


Emerald Dawn

by oxnate



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Green Arrow - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Ending, Bows & Arrows, Bows are awesome, Firefly References, Gen, Mind Control, Non-Magic Willow, Shoot the Hostage, Shoot the Messenger, Spears, Spears are awesome, Yet Another Halloween Fic (BtVS)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 18:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8928208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oxnate/pseuds/oxnate
Summary: YAHF: Xander as Green Arrow. Xander dresses as a character without any superpowers. Knowledge of comics not necessary. Xander the Archer fic.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
> Prompt from [Methos' Adoption Center.](http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-21104-4/Methos+Adoption+Center.htm)
> 
> "YAHF: Xander as Green Arrow... Xander dresses as Green Arrow, one of his favorite characters due to the fact that Green Arrow is one of the few non-superpowered heroes in comics who continually save the world and play in the big leagues."
> 
> * * *
> 
> Thanks to [Methos](http://www.tthfanfic.org/AuthorStories-8223/Methos.htm) for the prompt that prompted this fic. And the cool artwork. And finally for saving me from trying to think up a title. :-)
> 
> And a special thank you to [souldriven](http://www.tthfanfic.org/Author-18195/souldriven.htm) for all their help with this story.
> 
> Disclaimer. I don't own Buffy or Green Arrow. 
> 
> I'm not a big comic book fan and don't know much about Green Arrow so don't worry about not knowing much about him yourself. I read the backstories on Wikipedia and will be using some of the darker ideas but altered. It will be completely AU as far as the Green Arrow comics are concerned. This fic is about Xander and what he would do with the skills and memories of Oliver Queen. Specifically, the archery skills. 
> 
> I never understood why the Slayer – and especially everyone else – mainly used stakes and crossbows. Crossbows are okay, but good poundage ones take forever to reload and light ones have very limited range. Bows are faster to reload than the lightest crossbow, more accurate, and have greater range. The downside is that it takes years to become good whereas crossbows are easier to learn. And the advantages of spears over stakes will become obvious to you when Xander teaches the others.
> 
> Okay, enough preaching. On with the show.

Emerald Dawn

by Oxnate

Chapter 1.

Oliver Queen was very confused. He found himself, not in Star City where he had gone to bed, but in some unnamed suburbia. There were monsters everywhere chasing the human residents. He realized he was dreaming and that the monsters were probably representations of the ills of society tearing suburbia apart. Drugs, crime, poverty, and (shudder) homeowners' associations. He had his bow and he had a quiver of arrows. They were deadly broadheads rather than his normal trick arrows. He supposed this meant he was supposed to kill these monsters instead of trying to capture them. 

He began shooting as he walked. He had shot five monsters and was lining up a shot on a smallish one when someone jumped through him. There was no force to the blow but having someone jump through him made him twitch and miss the monster entirely.

“No! Xander, some of those monsters are children,” the incorporeal being begged from the ground.

Oliver sighed. This was a very strange dream. He well knew that poverty, drugs, and crime warped the youth and created a cycle of violence and poverty that homeowners' associations could then take advantage of. And now this incorporeal being, that he guessed was his conscience, was telling him... what? That he couldn't kill evildoers because they were a product of their environment? This was a very strange dream. “Well, if you're my conscience in this dream, how am I supposed to deal with these monsters?”

The woman picked herself up off the ground. How she could go through him but not the ground was certainly one of the great mysteries of the dreamworld. “I'm not your conscience Xan-” she stopped talking as she turned around. She looked very confused. “You're... not Xander.” 

It was Oliver's turn to be confused. Why wouldn't his dream conscience recognize him? “No, I'm Oliver,” he held out his hand before realizing that she wouldn't be able to shake it and brought it back awkwardly. “Why did you call me Xander? Did I wander into someone else's dream?”

That shook the redhead from her stupor. “This isn't a dream, Xander. Er... Oliver. I dressed as a ghost for Halloween and now...” she waved her hand through him. “My friend, Xander, dressed as Oliver Queen – the Green Arrow and now...” she motioned to him.

“You mean, I'm possessing the body of your friend?” he clarified.

“Well, a bit more than possessing. You look just like the Green Arrow. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Other people transformed more than you.” She motioned to the monsters he had shot.

He swallowed. Hard. “Those were real people?”

“Yes.”

After a couple of deep breaths a thought occurred to him. “Who are you and how is it that you know what's going on?”

She shrugged. “Oh, my name's Willow and I went as a ghost. I guess I'm just a ghost of me. Which is good. Because Buffy... Buffy! We have to find Buffy!” The Willow-ghost ran off.

Queen had no idea who or what a Buffy was but was was willing to follow the redheaded ghost in this maybe-dream for now. A scream came from up ahead and he ran past Willow.

“Remember to try not to kill them!” she shouted at his back.

Oliver sighed and adjusted his aim from the heart to the shoulder. The arrow struck home with a meaty 'thwack' and the beast cried out in pain. Oliver placed himself between the monster and the girl who might be Buffy. They closed for hand to claw combat; he ducked and dodged a few weak blows while striking at the arrow still in its shoulder. Every blow caused the monster to cry out in pain. It quickly hightailed it to lick its wounds and perhaps find easier prey.

“Oh my. That was very brave of you, good sir. Like the very tales of Robin Hood come to life.” 

Oliver smiled at the reference and bowed, “My lady.”

“Great. Glad you two are friends. Now could we _please_ get moving? We need to get her inside before more monsters find us,” Willow suggested.

“Do you know a place?”

Willow thought for a moment, “Buffy's is closest. Follow me.”

* * *

Oliver got a bit of a thrill beating up the pirate and saving the... princess? Or lady. She wasn't exactly his type but her gratitude seemed to grate on the man who claimed to be her boyfriend and he was happy for that. The guy had scared her away in the first place. Plus, Ollie got the pirate's sword out of the deal, so a nice bonus there.

Then the ghost known as Willow came around the corner and warned them that monsters were on the way. Just seconds before said monsters showed up.

“Those are all kids?” Oliver asked as they started to retreat.

“The leader is a real vampire. Don't know about the rest, but I'd assume so,” she answered, slightly out of breath. How a ghost got out of breath was hard to say.

“Well in that case...” Queen stopped, spun, and loosed an arrow straight into the lead vampire's heart.

The monster grunted in pain and stopped running which stopped the monsters behind him too. “Stupid ponce. Metal won't kill me,” he said as he started to remove the arrow. Another arrow lodged itself in his skull. He collapsed, quivering, with arrows in his heart and brain.

Oliver knocked another arrow and drew a bead on the next biggest monster. “Are any of the rest of you immune to arrows?”

The monsters looked at each other then turned and fled. Oliver released the tension in the bow and put the arrow away. Then he walked over to the still seizing vampire. “This is a real monster? How do we kill it?”

“Wood through the heart,” Willow answered.

Oliver found a piece of broken pallet and went up to the blond vampire. He swung for the man's heart but a strong hand stopped him. Angel, the one who'd scared the Lady Buffy.

“I'll do it,” he whispered. “It should be me.”

Ollie didn't argue. He handed over the wood then stepped back to watch either entrance to the alley they were still in.

Angel whispered something in the monster's ear. Then a quick thrust, a poof of dust, and it was all over. Angel walked back and returned Oliver's arrows to him. “Thanks,” he whispered. Ollie nodded back. One warrior to another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and Recommendations are what keep me going. Please donate a click, there's no cost to you.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

They were walking back. The Lady Buffy refused to let go of him despite his protests that he could protect her better without her clinging to him. She made sure that he was between Angel and herself who she still didn’t trust despite reassurances from all three of the others in the group besides Oliver Queen. They were heading to a library where the ghost known as Willow promised them answers.

When the spell ended Xander and Buffy both stumbled. That she didn't immediately release her grip on him was one of the happiest moments of his life. In fact, if anything her grip got stronger. But when she released him and called out for “Angel!” it nearly ripped his heart out.

Angel had been walking well away from them, giving them space while pretending to listen to Cordy prattle on, but lost all pretense and ran to Buffy too.

“I missed you,” he said as they broke their kiss.

“I missed you,” she replied. “Spike!” she opened her eyes wide as she remembered.

“Huh?” Xander tried to nock an arrow even as he looked around for the blond vampire. Then he realized that his bow was a plastic toy again and his arrows all had suction cups on them. “Oh yeah. We killed him.”

“ _You_ killed him,” Buffy insisted. Then she turned back to Angel. “It was nice of you to let Angel finish him off though.”

“It was my responsibility,” Angel agreed.

“Hey, where's Willow?” Xander asked, noticing that she wasn't around.

* * *

Xander had a horrible revelation as he and Cordy walked back to the school. _Five kids! He'd shot five kids!_ He ran back towards Buffy's house with Cordy in tow. Angel was leaving as they approached. Xander had a horrible thought that Buffy wouldn't understand that he had shot five innocent children. Possession or no possession. But there was someone right in front of him who understood what it was like to feel the guilt of crimes you didn't actually commit. _Dear God in heaven. He was understanding what Angel felt!_

“I need your help,” Xander said as softly as possible.

“Mine?” it was almost a statement rather than a question.

“I wasn't in control of my body. The person who was hurt some kids. I know _you_ understand that. If we leave them, they'll die. But if you can help me, we might just save them,” Xander begged.

Angel, to his credit, just nodded, “Lead the way.”

Xander led them back to where he'd first changed. There were five kids nearby with toy arrows sticking out of them.

“Start checking if they're alive. I'll call 911. I know the code words to let them know it's safe to come. Don't remove the arrows.” Angel ran off.

Xander wondered if it was possible that an ambulance was already on its way. It had been quite a while since they had been shot and they were lying in a fairly well lit residential area. Then he realized that this was Sunnydale and the odds of something like that were slim. He started the gruesome business of checking for survivors. The first one they found was still alive! 

Xander hadn't felt so relieved since Buffy came back to life. “Hang in there, kid. Help's on the way,” he promised. He checked the next three, his spirits lifting as he found each one alive. He was wondering how it was possible. Oliver had been shooting to kill and the man just didn't miss. Had he affected things enough to let the kids live? He might never know, but it was enough that they were all alive. 

All except the last one. He was dead. There wasn't even any point in trying CPR. The boy was already cold. Xander swallowed hard and felt tears start to well in his eyes. The boy got a little fuzzy around the edges. He had killed him. The kid didn't look to be older than 14 and Xander didn't even know his name. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“It's their own fault for dressing like monsters on the Hellmouth,” Cordy said softly. (for her) “They should have known better. That's just, like, asking for trouble. Who knows how many people you saved by putting these guys out of commission? Do you think Buffy stays awake at night thinking about the monsters she's killed? Not likely.”

“That's because the monsters she kills don't turn into kids at the end of the night,” Xander replied. They sat in silence for a while.

“What's going on?” Angel broke the silence.

“The others are okay but this one died,” Cordelia explained.

“That's lucky. Stop moping over the dead one though. Everyone pick a living one and start comforting him. Keep them awake and hopeful so that they have the strength to pull through this,” the vampire ordered.

Having something to do seemed to have a wonderful effect on him. Or perhaps the tears he shed were cathartic enough that he now had the strength to help those still alive. Or maybe it was the irony of Angel telling him to stop moping. They stayed with the kids until they were loaded in the ambulances and were well away.

“Thank you,” Xander said to Angel, but he was looking at the spot where the dead kid had been.

Xander did not remember walking home but that wasn't surprising. He had been completely exhausted in every way possible.

* * *

Early the next morning Xander went for a run. He was embarrassed just how easily he tired out compared to his memories of Oliver Queen. Apparently running from vampires didn't get you in as good of shape as running for your next meal. Maybe it was the frequency. Ollie had been forced to run every day while Xander ran as little as possible. He shook his head to clear those thoughts and slowed to a walk as he neared downtown.

Downtown was quite the mess. He heard mutterings about 'gangs' and 'darn kids' as people cleaned. He entered the hardware store.

“Good morning, son. What can I do for you?” the clerk asked.

“Wood. Two boards of hickory suitable for bow making. Some wooden dowels. At least an inch in diameter and 6 feet long or more. Oak if you have it or another hardwood if you don't. And some smaller dowels suitable for arrows if you have them too.”

“I got the first two things easy enough. But the archery dowels you'll find at the sporting goods store two doors down,” the clerk jerked his thumb towards the wall behind him.

“Thanks.”

* * *

Xander ended up getting everything he needed for under $100. The large dowels were walnut instead of oak but that was fine. Walnut was probably stronger anyway, but more expensive. He ended up buying completed arrows and a small quiver at the sporting goods store instead of arrow supplies for now. He just didn't have the time or the tools to make good arrows yet. The manufactured ones weren't great but they'd be good enough until he could make better. Xander counted himself lucky that Tony had plenty of woodworking tools in the garage. Buying tools would have cut a lot more heavily into his Road Trip fund. 

The first thing Xander did was clean the safety goggles he wasn't sure Tony ever used but still had. A blind bowman would just be the height of irony on the Hellmouth. Safety of his eyes assured, he turned the table saw on and went to work on the eight long, wooden dowels he'd bought. He was finished quickly and inspected his handiwork. 

Xander Harris was a comic book fan. And he obviously liked the Green Arrow or he wouldn't have dressed up as him. But now that he had the real memories of Oliver Queen, he saw there were a lot of errors in the comics. For instance, they forgot to mention that when he was washed up on that island that the first weapon he made wasn't a bow at all. It was a spear. He made his first kills with it and it saved his life when a wild boar tried to skewer him. It was the wild boar incident that made him decide that he wanted to hunt things from a distance from then on. That was the impetus behind the first bow he'd ever made. And he became very, very good with bows too. But for as long as he was on that island he never went anywhere without at least one good spear. 

And now he had eight. With less than fifteen minutes worth of work he'd made eight serviceable spears. An hour or so of sanding and then a few seconds each under the blowtorch to fire-harden the points and they were done. Xander couldn't help but draw comparisons to Oliver's first spear on the island and the hours it had taken him to make. And now in an hour he had made eight.

Now, he was properly armed.

No matter how poorly his first attempt at making a bow went this time, he would be armed tonight. He shuddered at the thought of his own... err, Oliver's own first attempts at making a bow. It had snapped in his hands on the first attempt to draw it. He glanced up at the clock and decided that it was time to head to the library.

* * *

“Xander, good to see you,” Giles said. “May I ask why you are carrying a spear, though?”

“Huh?” Xander looked at his hand. Sure enough, he had carried a spear from his house to the library. He hadn't even thought about it. No one had said anything or even given him a weird glance. Thank the Hellmouth. “Well whad’ya know. I guess it was a leftover habit from my costume. No one said anything on the way over, though. No one even gave me a second look.”

“A habit of carrying weapons?” Buffy stopped pummeling a training dummy. “I'll trade you. My new habits include crocheting, needlework, and playing the harpsichord. I'm not even sure if harpsichords still exist.” She gave the dummy one last, frustrated punch.

Giles looked like he was about to weigh in on that, but changed his mind. “I take in you retained a few memories from whatever it was you went as last night?” Giles glanced at Buffy. “I must say that I expect Buffy's French grades to improve.”

“Giles est un grand maître, dit-on, le malheur est qu'il tue ses élèves.” Buffy confirmed that she did, indeed, speak French.

“Very funny, Buffy,” Giles gave a small smile at the fact that his Slayer had, indeed, learned something despite her best efforts not to. He turned back to Xander. “So, who did you go as?”

“Green Arrow,” Xander said. At the blank look from Giles, he continued. “Think Batman crossed with Robin Hood.”

“Well, I'm at least familiar with both of those. An interesting combination to say the least. I would venture to guess that you have some skill with a bow and arrow now?” Giles reasoned. 

Xander shrugged. “Don't know yet. Got some wood this morning but spears are faster and easier to make. Didn't want to be unarmed tonight.”

Buffy came over, toweling sweat from her neck. “You're not going hunting tonight, are you?”

“Nooo,” he assured her. “I just feel naked without a spear nearby. Oliver spent some time marooned on an island. Made him even jumpier than living on the Hellmouth. But you're right, they would be good for hunting vampires. Better than a stake, I'd think.”

Buffy laughed him off, “Yeah right.”

But Xander was deep in thought. His eyes were unfocused as he looked into space, “No. Think about it. In order to stake a vampire, you have to get inside his reach. Right? But with a spear like this, they couldn't lay a hand on you. I mean, why do you use stakes anyway?”

Giles began, “Well, it's tradition for one-”

“Concealment,” Buffy cut him off. Tradition was not a good reason in her books. But, “There is no way I'm taking a spear on patrol much less into the Bronze.”

“I'm not saying don't carry stakes too.” Xander produced a stake from his shirtsleeve and tucked it back. “But I just walked across Sunnydale in broad daylight with this thing and nobody looked at me twice. And fine, maybe you leave it outside the Bronze but... you know, maybe we can make this Sunnydale Syndrome work for us for a change?”

Giles seemed to be in deep thought then. “It's... never been tried. Not that I'm aware of anyway.” He chewed on the end of his glasses before deciding something and putting them back on. “Right. Never let it be said that Rupert Giles didn't arm his Slayer with the best weapons for the job. Xander, would you assist me in testing your spear?” He stepped into his office and came back with a chest protector and a bow-staff. “Now, since I do not wish to be stabbed to death, we will use the staff instead of the spear for practice. I will try to attack you as a vampire would and you will try to stab me with the staff. Understood?”

Giles and Xander faced off on opposite sides of the training mat. Suddenly Giles attacked, his hands open like a bear's paw. Xander jumped back and jabbed his staff forward. Giles was forced to abandon his attack and spend his time countering the jabs as Xander forced him backwards. They went back and forth twice before Xander started to get frustrated that he couldn't land a killing blow. Giles was an excellent fighter and was very good at staying out of range and parrying when he could. Instead of drawing the staff back the next time, he pulled it up and then back down, right on Giles' head. The automatic response to grab his head cost him a staff thrust to his padded chest. _That_ blow physically hurt less thanks to the padding. It really only hurt his pride.

“Hey! That was cheating!” Buffy called from the table.

“No, Buffy,” Giles said, though he was still rubbing his head. “That was a perfectly... smashing blow he used. And good technique. Also it confirmed what I wanted to test. That the added reach of the spear would be an advantage against the denizens of the night. I can honestly say I didn't expect you to win, Xander. I was just hoping the added reach would give you a defensive advantage and I think it has. Buffy, I'd like you to use a spear on your next few patrols.”

“But-”

Giles held up a hand. “Just- take one with you. Try it out. All I ask is that you give it a fair shot.” He gave a slight grin at her defeated slump. “Wonderful. Now Xander, you said that you had made more than one of these spears?”

“Yeah, I made eight.”

“Do you think I could buy that one from you so Buffy can get a feel for it now before patrol?” Giles asked.

“Sure. The dowels were $5 apiece. I made eight in an hour and a half and most of that was smoothing and sanding the tips.”

“Well, it is a fine spear. How does $20 sound then?” Giles handed over the money.

“Sounds good.” Xander handed over the spear. _Making money through slaying, who'd have thought?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I don't speak French. “Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on, le malheur est qu'il tue ses élèves.” is a famous quote: “We say that time is a great teacher. It's too bad that it also kills all its students.” I replaced Time with Giles (I think). It probably screwed up the grammar so I apologize to those of you who actually speak French. Leave a review correcting my French and receive credit here for your efforts!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Willow didn't come in until Buffy and Giles were busy training with her new spear. Buffy was thrusting it into a straw dummy. Where the librarian had gotten a straw dummy from, Xander didn't want to know. “Hey, Sleepyhead. You slept in on a Saturday. That's a good start.”

Willow collapsed next to him. “I've never been so happy to see a Saturday. I'll tell you what; coming back from the dead really takes it out of you. I've never slept so soundly.”

“You didn't miss much. Buffy and I were explaining our new... quirks.”

“Quirks?” she queried.

“Stuff left behind by our costumes,” he explained. “You probably don't have anything since you were still you.”

“Phooey. I always miss out on the cool stuff,” Willow complained.

“You can have my desire to do needlepoint, Will,” Buffy offered as she again stuck her spear in the straw man.

“Plus, from what Giles said, you really saved the day yesterday. If it weren't for you, we might all still be stuck as our costumes. Which wouldn't be horrible for me. But Buffy...”

“Yeah, I owe you one. Remind me to crochet you a pillow for your birthday.”

Willow gave a small smile. “Save the world... get a pillow.”

Buffy stopped stabbing for a moment. “Hey, it's better than the deal I usually get. I'm lucky if I get a cookie for saving the world. Besides you only saved Sunnydale. When you _eventually_ do save the world, I promise to knit you a sweater.”

The three friends shared a giggle for a moment and Giles felt more than a little pride in his children and their inner fortitude. Then he went back to swinging the straw man for Buffy to attack.

“So, Buffy got needlework, what did you get?” Willow asked. “You were Green Arrow so did you get to keep that cool bow and arrow set?”

“Not so much. Archery _skills_. Bow and arrow sold separately. But I'm working on it.” At a look from Willow, he went on. “Oliver Queen made a bow with nothing but wood and rocks. I've got power tools. But spears are faster and easier.”

“I didn't know Green Arrow used spears,” she said.

“Yeah, it's not shown in the comics, but the memories I got of the real Oliver Queen tell me he made spears first on the island, and then the bow and arrows. To this day, he doesn't feel comfortable without one nearby,” Xander explained.

“Like a security blanket?” Willow asked.

Xander nodded. “More like a security spear. But same idea. Which makes me wish I'd brought more than one. Shoulda thought to bring one for everybody.”

“You have one for me too?” she queried.

“Of course. I've got enough for everybody,” Xander assured her.

“$20 each.” Buffy interjected. 

Before Willow could say anything. “No, that was a special 'Slayers only' price. Everyone else gets theirs for free. Except Cordelia. Hers is $40.” 

“Why do we have to pay?” Buffy didn't stop stabbing to ask.

“You're the ones rolling in dough,” Xander answered. “It's only fair.”

“Well, the council isn't exactly 'rolling' in money, Xander. Though there is a fund for purchasing weapons for the Slayer and I can imagine they can better afford the cost than can you.” Giles was breathing hard with the exertion of trying not to let his dummy get stabbed. “That's enough Buffy.”

Buffy twirled the six foot spear like a baton. “Not bad, Xander. You make a good spear. And I'll give it an honest go tonight.”

* * *

It was the middle of a bright, sunny California day and Xander felt half-naked walking home with only stake to protect him. In the middle of the day. It was silly, he knew, but he couldn't help wishing that he had a few knives and a lighter or maybe a sword. He wasn't half bad with a sword. He'd have to remember to see if Giles could give him some pointers there. But for now, without a spear or a bow, he just didn't feel right. His heart rate and breathing were both increasing without any exertion.

He started running home. Faster and faster he ran, by the time he saw his house he was already sprinting. He got to the garage and slammed the door behind him, breathing heavily. He saw the spears just where he left them and allowed himself to relax. God, he was such a baby. Nearly having a panic attack just walking across town in broad daylight. 

As his breathing calmed he got up and went to examine the boards he would be making his bows from. Feeling the wood calmed his thoughts. Two, 6 foot long, 2X4s. There would be some extra waste this way, but it allowed him to make sure he didn't have to cut across the grain of the wood and weaken the bow. He drew out the diamond shape of the arms that he knew would give them the most strength. Then he traced along the grain on side of the board, marking where he would cut. And finally, he drew the cuts for the handle.

He put his safety goggles back on and fired up the saw. Following the marks he had already made, he first cut down the thickness and then cut the shape he wanted. That done, he tested the flexibility of the roughed out bow. It felt good. Like his memories said it should, but his hands weren't the hands of his memories and it was difficult to feel any nuances. He wouldn't know anything for sure until he shot this bow.

He set out the hand tools he would need next. The plane, draw knife, rasp, and some files. He also put a fresh sheet of sandpaper on the power sander. Then he went to work.

Soon the piece of wood he had been working on was recognizable as a bow. By the time he got to rev up the power sander and shout “Power Xander!” the bow was all but done. It was also night time. Not late, just dark. Xander gave the bow another test bend and thought that it felt very good. Things were looking up. He finished nocking the tips for the bowstring and cut an appropriate length for said string.

Now came the real test. He set the tip of the bow against one foot and stepped through, using his weight and powerful leg muscles to bend the bow easily. He pulled the string onto the nock freshly cut for that purpose and gingerly stepped out of the bow. It held. He twanged the string and listened to the tension held there. Music to his ears. He pulled an arrow blank, nocked the arrow onto the bow, and pulled. 

It was too strong. Much too strong. He couldn't pull it more than halfway back. His upper body simply wasn't strong enough to pull a bow at Green Arrow strength even once, never mind multiple times. It was very disappointing. He unstrung the bow and placed it back on the workbench. Using the rasp, he undid his fine power sanding job and started removing more wood from the belly of the bow. He tested it without the bowstring three more times, each time taking more wood off the belly, before he was satisfied that it was at a good weight for him. 

There was one good thing to come out of this. He got to use the “Power Xander!” one more time.

Finally satisfied with his sanding, Xander restrung the bow. He picked up his arrow and nocked it again. He drew the bow slowly and smoothly. It still took a good amount of strength for Xander to get it back all the way but he did. And that was enough for tonight. He let out the tension, unstrung the bow, and put the arrow away. He grabbed the bow and three spears. He hid one spear in the basement then went upstairs to his room. He placed one spear over his bedroom window and one in the corner, behind the door. The one over the window required two thumbtacks to be gently pushed into the window trim to keep it from rolling off, acting like speed bumps. Now that he had a spear next to each exit from his room, he felt much better. He gripped his bow tightly as he drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

“Spike,” Drusilla moaned on her bed. “My Spike.”

“What should we do?” one minion asked the other.

“Spike's never been gone more than two nights,” the other said. “If he's not back by tomorrow night then I'm getting out of here.”

“I meant about her,” the first one clarified. 

“Do what you want. If that Slayer really did get Spike then she's a lot more powerful than we thought. And I want no part of it. I'm getting out of town.”

The first minion leered at Drusilla, “That's fine. I've got plans for this crazy bitch.”

* * *

Xander spent the next day finishing his bow and fitting broadheads onto the arrows he'd bought. A piece of scrap leather he found in the basement when he was hiding his spear the night before became both the grip for the bow and a bracer for each arm. Even though Oliver mostly shot right handed, a shoulder injury had taught him the value of being ambidextrous. And this time he'd shoot both ways from the start. And that sounded a lot less dirty before he’d thought it.

Xander took the last ten arrows and fitted them with target points instead of broadheads. Then he took his bow, target arrows, and the four remaining spears to the library.

“Hey. How did it go?” he asked Buffy as he entered the library. She was again training with the spear.

She smiled. “Buffy likes the spears. Spears are of the good,” she replied.

“Willow likes the spears too!” Willow jumped in. “Gilesletmetry stabbing thedummyacoupletimes and isoneofthoseforme?” she babbled.

“Sure is, Will,” he threw one of his spears underhand and sideways so as not to stab her.

Willow let out an “Eep!” and threw up her hand to cover her head. Luckily Buffy jumped in and grabbed the pole before it hit her. “Thanks, Buffy,” she said as she took it.

“Sorry. Forgot the 'no throwing things' rule,” Xander admitted sheepishly.

Willow took a deep breath. “I'll live,” she paused for a second. “You won't. But I will,” she smiled to let him know she was joking. Mostly.

“Moving on, may I ask what the other spears are for, Xander?” Giles wondered.

“Well, one is mine,” he explained. “I felt a little naked walking home without it yesterday,” he lied. He'd felt really naked. He'd have rather walked home naked with a spear than clothed without one. “And the others I'm going to leave here. Probably hide them in some of the janitors' closets around school.”

Giles began cleaning his glasses, “I'm not sure that's such a good idea. Leaving weapons were children mind get their hands on them is-”

“You don't understand, Giles.” Xander felt himself starting to panic despite holding three spears and his bow. The idea that he'd have to attend school unarmed was starting to affect his rational mind. “I need these,” he pleaded.

Giles started polishing his glasses. “I'm not sure why you think you _need_ to-”

“Fuck you!” Xander yelled suddenly. “I wasn't asking your permission! Just letting you know!” Xander was breathing heavily after his one-sided shouting match. He looked at the shocked faces of his friends and ran out of the library.

“Xander!” Willow yelled and got up to chase him.

“Willow!” Giles barked. When she stopped, he continued in a calmer voice. “Let him go. I will talk to him. You stay here with Buffy.”

* * *

Xander might have been only a little surprised to learn that Giles had done some research on the Green Arrow the night before. It had certainly been the first time that comic books had been a part of his research process. Indeed, Xander might have been far more shocked to learn that a younger Rupert Giles had once been a fan of the graphic arts.

Giles' knowledge of both Xander and of the Green Arrow meant that he found the boy much faster than Xander had thought possible. At a look from the boy he explained, “I read a few of the comics last night. I figured you might head for higher ground.” And the roof of the two story school certainly qualified for that. In earthquake-prone California, buildings in small towns rarely got above two stories as earthquake countermeasures for taller buildings were cost prohibitive as long as land was relatively cheap. The school had much taller stories than the surrounding buildings and their two stories were more like three and a half compared to the other buildings. Giving them a nice view of the rest of the city.

Xander didn't acknowledge his presence but started to talk anyway. “Most of his trick arrows wouldn't work, you know? Securing zip lines would take more force than a bow and arrow could achieve. Bola arrows would be impossible. Along with the net ones. Not to mention magic ones like freeze arrows.”

Giles said nothing and just sat nearby. Letting him talk.

“I had a panic attack halfway home yesterday. Broad daylight, still carrying a stake... and I panicked,” he sniffed as his eyes started to water at the memory. “Stupid, I know.”

Giles moved closer and put an arm around him. “My dear boy, there's nothing stupid about it. Mr. Queen obviously had some serious trauma in his life which has now been foisted upon you. It is truly unfair that you should bear this burden.”

“Sorry about swearing at you but I can't go to class without a weapon nearby, Giles. A bow, a spear, or even a sword. If I don't have something, I know I'm going to have another panic attack. This time in public. And after that, they'll call me insane and take away my weapons, which will only prove their point and-” he was starting to panic again.

“Xander.” Giles interrupted softly but forcefully putting a halt to Xander's runaway panic. “I'm not going to let that happen. Don't let it worry you.”

“I could take my classes in the library,” Xander offered, thinking about safety. The library was safety. He was starting to calm down a little again. “If I hide my spear by the back door and we have plenty of weapons in the book cage... I'd be okay there.”

“Well, perhaps if it comes to that, we can work something out. But I'd like to hear more about this plan to hide your other two spears in the janitorial closets.” Giles said. To his surprise, Xander eagerly pulled out a map of the school.

“See? These are my classes. If I hide one in this closet, here. And one, here. Then I'll never be more than 100 feet from a spear except during lunch. If I make another spear tonight and hide it near there, then I think I'll be okay. But I'm not sure.” Xander pointed out all the way-points on his map.

“Care to find out?” Giles asked.

“Are you sure?” Xander wondered.

“Xander, the safety of you children is my goal. If hiding weapons around the school makes you more, and not less safe, then I'll be okay with it,” Giles said.

* * *

All three spears successfully hidden, Giles walked with Xander through all his classes and watched as the boy fidgeted in his respective seats in those classes.

“I'm okay,” the boy assured him. 

Giles wouldn't have classified him as 'okay' but he wasn't panicking and that was, as Buffy had commented earlier, 'of the good'.

Test more or less successfully completed, he gave Xander back the spear he had bought the day before with the understanding that Xander would make Buffy a new one by that evening for her to take with her on patrol. The smile he received in thanks more than made up for the fact that he didn't actually say the words.

After that, Giles set up the battered and tattered straw man Buffy had been stabbing for the last two days for Xander to practice his archery.

With the dummy at one end of the library, Xander backed up to the doors and let ten arrows fly. He took his time but still had an empty quiver in under two minutes. None of the shots missed the target but none of them hit the bullseye either.

“Perhaps you should start a bit closer?” Giles suggested.

Xander smiled, “Just wait and watch.” He gathered his arrows and shot again. This time all ten hit exactly where the heart of the dummy would be. One arrow even had a feather torn off by another arrow hitting too close.

“Good Lord,” Giles breathed.

“It's not like a gun where every bullet is almost identical. Every arrow is unique, and wooden arrows more so. And they react to different bows differently.” Xander picked out the damaged arrow and set it on the circulation counter. As he started shooting left handed this time, he continued. “Until you fire that arrow with the bow you want, you'll never know exactly where it will hit. And these arrows are slightly too stiff for this bow. I was planning on shooting with a stronger bow.” Xander didn't bother to explain the fact that shooting arrows that were too stiff was really the only thing affecting his accuracy at this range.

His left handed group was slightly looser than his second right handed group but certainly all around the heart. He collected the nine arrows and fired another volley left handed. Like his second one with his right hand, this one was as tight as could be. “Now I know how these arrows will react to this bow. And I have a better idea how they might react to other bows or arrows, but not for sure. At this range, that’s enough to hit the bullseye every time.”

Everyone in the room stared at him.

“What? Green Arrow was a master archer. What'd you expect?” he asked incredulously.

“It was just...” Giles began.

“Impressive,” Buffy finished.

“Yeah,” Willow agreed.

“And you can do that every time?” Giles wondered.

“Yep. And up to about 40 arrows per minute with very good accuracy. But it's hard finding a quiver that big.” Xander said. “Or that's what Ollie could do. Haven't tested my speed yet.”

“That could be quite a... useful skill on the Hellmouth,” Giles thought out loud.

“I wish I could shoot like that,” Buffy moped good naturedly.

“Well, you can Buff. Just practice a couple hours a day, every day, for a couple of years and you'll be just as good as me,” Xander smiled.

“Thanks,” she smiled back. “But I think I'll stick to spears and crossbows.”

“Yeah, well if I could span a 300 lb. crossbow by hand, I might be temped to use a crossbow too,” Xander allowed.

* * *

“Hello, I don't know if you remember me...” Xander said to the clerk of the hardware store.

“Well, even if I didn't, I recognize our stock. Walnut, 6 feet long, 1 inch diameter. Didn't know you were making it into a spear. But it looks good. You were asking about oak dowels last time, weren't you?” the clerk replied. “We just got some in.”

“Yeah. Actually, that's what I'm here for. I'll take ten if you got 'em,” Xander smiled.

“I've got a dozen. Tell you what. Buy the 11th and I'll throw in the 12th for free.”

“Deal,” Xander said and shook the clerk's hand.

* * *

The oak dowels were slightly cheaper than the walnut ones and he was able to get the whole dozen for less than $40 after tax. He spent 20 minutes cutting ten of the dowels into spears. Then he cut the other two dowels into 4 pieces each. He turned each of the pieces on the lathe to give them hand grips, then he cut each of those into stakes. At the end of all his work he had ten spears and eight stakes. Locking each one into the vice, he got to use his “Power Xander!” to smooth out the rough edges of the points caused by the table saw. 

When everything was done he fired up the blowtorch to fire-harden them.

“Is that why the spear seemed to slide into the vamps like it was butter?” Buffy asked.

“Think you mean, like a hot knife into butter, Buff. I hope my spears work better than butter on vamps. Can you imagine a spear made out of butter? It might work if they were lactose intolerant. But how would you know which vamps couldn't handle their dairy, huh?” Xander quipped.

“Sure, Xander. What ever you say. So, what's with the fire, then?” she asked.

“Fire hardening. Makes the tips stronger,” he said.

Buffy picked up one of the new stakes and felt the tip. “Cool. So, why not do the whole thing? Make the whole spear stronger?”

“Because, it also makes it brittle. More prone to breaking. It won't affect a small section like the tip, but the rest of the spear has to have flexibility to absorb the forces you and whatever vamp you're facing will exert on it,” Xander patiently explained.

“Sure.” Buffy waved off the overly scientific (to her mind) explanation. “Never knew you were so into woodworking. How much for a stake?” she switched gears smoothy.

Xander shrugged. “Never seemed important until now. And how does $10 sound? You can bill it to Giles.”

“Cool,” she grinned. “Can I get another spear too? I want to try throwing one this time.”

“You're really getting into this, aren't you?” he smiled back. “You can have as many as you can convince Giles to pay for.”

Buffy nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment thinking about how much Giles might glare at her for certain amounts of money before picking up one spear and two stakes. “Thanks, Xander,” she gave him a peck on the cheek before heading out. 

Xander felt his cheeks grow very warm indeed.

* * *

Xander had taken the straw practice dummy home as Giles had insisted that he needed to make a new one anyway. He'd shot each of his broadheads into it four times (twice right and twice left handed) to make sure he knew each of the arrows. He didn't group all the arrows together this time, to make sure he didn’t remove any fletching again, instead he used them to draw pictures on the dummy. After he'd shot and cleaned all his broadheads, he shot the nine practice arrows one last time. The tenth was on the work bench, the glue on the new fletching drying. After shooting so many arrows, his shoulders felt like they were going to fall off. He had wanted to do some vampire hunting tonight but he knew the way he felt right now, he wasn't going to be hunting anything. He unstrung his bow and carried it to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

It was the end of the second night since Spike disappeared. No one knew what had happened to him, but everyone was betting on intense dryness due to application of arboreous vegetative material. Or at least that egghead Dalton had said that. He'd been one of the first to run. But Edward wasn't a coward like them and now he had Drusilla all to himself. She had barely moved these past two nights. But that was okay, he didn't really need her to move.

He lay down next to her and ran a hand up her thigh.

“Mmm. Spike?” she mewed.

That was fine by him. If the crazy bitch wanted to pretend he was Spike, all the better. He hiked up her dress, revealing that she wasn't wearing any panties. He quickly pulled his pants to his ankles and rolled on top of her. And then she entered him. _Wait, that wasn't right._ She was feeding off of him. He bent his neck to feed off her too. But her hand came up to block. He tried again but he was already growing weak due to blood loss and she was so strong. Much stronger than she was supposed to be. Than she should have been.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to go. She was weak. Everyone knew that. Somehow she'd been injured and wasn't healing. Nevermind that something like that should be impossible. She was odd and everyone just accepted that she really was weak. But he could feel her under him and she was anything but feeble. She was strong and growing stronger as she drained him of every drop of blood he could spare.

As the blood drained from him his muscle tone diminished and then disappeared. To anyone watching, it would look like a time-lapse of a mummy desiccating under intense dryness and heat. His skin got wrinkly and paper thin, and his face took on a haunted look.

When she was finished she pushed him off her and stood up, letting her dress again cover her nakedness. She didn't say a word but took his dry, unmoving hand; drug him to the door; and tossed him outside. He laid on the grass and considered that the first rays of dawn would turn him to dust; he was thankful for that small mercy.

* * *

“You killed my William,” she hissed. The body of the boy she had drained just before Angel had shown up was still at her feet. “I shan’t forgive you. You've been a very naughty Daddy.” She swiped at his face, her nails digging four parallel lines of blood on his cheek.

But Angel didn't even put a hand to his face. “Drusilla, leave here. I'm offering you one, last chance. Things have changed.”

“I'll say.” A voice came from behind Angel, and a figure dropped from the roof of the building there. “Time was you and I used to slay vampires. Or is that not a body between the two of you.”

“Buffy-”

“Slayer,” purred Drusilla. “I don't want you. I want the one that killed my Spike. I want Robin Hood. I want to cut his heart out with a spoon.” 

Buffy advanced with her spear in front of her. “You know this girl, Angel?”

Drusilla answered first. “He's my Daddy. But not so much right now.”

Buffy and Angel shared a look and when they turned back, Drusilla was gone.

* * *

“So, instead of Slaying, Angel and I got to have a long talk about his past and our relationship.” Buffy explained.

“Fun,” Willow said sarcastically.

“I thought you chicks dug that ‘talking about your feelings’ crap?” Xander interjected.

“No, we just understand that it's necessary for a relationship to move forward. Or backward... as the case may be,” Buffy said.

“Ooh, Angel's in trouble. Do go on,” Xander encouraged.

Buffy sighed. “I caught Angel talking to a vamp last night. Turned out it was his daughter. Or childe. However that goes. He made her... way back when. Anyway she's crazy, dangerous, unpredictable, and- she’s after you, Xander, for killing Spike.” 

“Huh?”

“Spike was her son. Or childe. Whatever.”

“Wow, so Angel's got a kid, huh? Well, that's what happens when you date older men. They come with baggage.” Xander flopped himself down on the couch in the lounge. His eyes flicked down the hall where he knew a spear was stashed. Willow sat next to him.

“Well, she always did go for older men,” a boy behind Buffy said.

“Ford?” Buffy turned around and hugged the newcomer. 

“Hey, Summers! How ya been?” he asked.

Buffy and Ford caught up for a minute. They discovered that he was now going to Sunnydale High and explained that they used to know each other back in 5th and 6th grades, respectively.

“Did I hear you're dating a guy who's got a kid?” Ford asked.

Buffy blushed, “Uh, yeah. I just found out about her last night actually.”

“What's her name?” Ford asked politely.

“It's ah, Dru. Short for Drusilla,” Buffy turned redder and redder. “But that's not important. You're here and I'm here and we deserve a party. Are you busy tonight? We'll go to the Bronze, it's the local club, and you _have_ to come.”

“I'd love to!” Ford assured her “But I don't want to impose. It sounded like you and your beau had some stuff to talk about.”

“Actually, that's the last thing I need to think about tonight. I could really use a pick-me-up. Please?”

“Well, okay then! I- I gotta find the admissions office and get my papers in order,” Ford stood up.

“Well, you know what?” Buffy got up and took his arm. “I'll take you there, and I'll see you guys in French.”

Xander and Willow continued to sit on the couch.

“I'm really proud of you Xander. You didn't make one snarky comment, even though he was making googly eyes at the woman you love.” Willow said.

Xander shrugged but didn't deny her assertion. “He's a step up from a vampire. And two steps up from a vampire with a kid. Besides, I saw the way she was looking at him. He's stuck in the Friend Zone, same as me. And let me tell you; there's _no_ getting out of the Friend Zone.”

Willow gave a small whine.

“Huh? You okay, bud?” he asked.

“I guess.”

* * *

After a thoroughly uncomfortable night at the Bronze where Ford confronted Angel about having a kid and Angel... well mostly brooded. Xander went back to his place to get ready for the night's hunt. He had stretched his leather-working skills to the limit after school that day. He'd made himself and Buffy leather belts with special loops on the back to hold two spears. And a loop on each side for a stake. His also had some places to hook on quivers. Again, two on the back and one on each side but placed so that spears or stakes would still be accessible. He'd been experimenting with quivers on the hip instead of on the back to see if it made shooting easier.

He heard a knock on the garage door. “Hello Bu- Ford?” he said as he answered the door. Not expecting to see Ford there.

“He knew about me being the Slayer,” Buffy explained quickly, not waiting for an invitation to enter. Ford followed her in.

“Oh,” was all Xander could think to say.

“Cool place,” commented Ford as he looked around the garage.

The wheels in Xander's mind started turning. “Let me get this straight. You knew about the Slayer. Therefore you knew about vampires. Yes?” Ford nodded and he continued. “You knew about vampires and yet you came to Sunnydale anyway... are you stupid or something?”

“Xander!” Buffy chastised.

“Sorry Buff. But you gotta admit, that's a bonehead move. Are you sick or what?” Xander felt Ford's forehead and his tone softened. “Actually, you do feel a little warm.”

“Back off!” Ford swatted Xander's arm away but quickly found himself face-down on the concrete with his arm twisted behind him. 

Xander was a little surprised at the automaticness of his unarmed skills. He hadn't thought Ollie's were anything special. But then again, Oliver had been comparing his skills to superheros. Something Xander was familiar with.

“Xander, let him up,” Buffy ordered. Xander complied and Buffy helped Ford to his feet. “Are you alright?”

“I'm fine,” he insisted.

But Buffy put her hand to his forehead too. “Ford. You're burning up. We have to get you to the hospital,” she said, very worried.

“I said I'm fine,” he twisted out of her grasp.

“Ford.” Buffy's tone would broke no excuses. 

“It's just the flu. I'm mostly over it. I feel fine, honestly,” he swore.

“Nah-uh,” Buffy crossed her arms. “You're going home right now and straight to bed. If you feel better tomorrow, then _maybe_ you can come with us.”

Buffy saw Ford several blocks and sensing no vampires nearby, she allowed him to walk the last block by himself while returning to Xander's. Xander had his belt on and loaded up by that time. “Wow, a utility belt. You're really going whole hog with this superhero thing, huh?”

Xander chuckled. “It's just a convenient place to hang weapons. Not trying to make a fashion statement. I made one for you too if you're interested. Makes carrying a lot of weapons easier.”

Buffy flinched. “Thanks Xander. But I'm not sure I'm ready to ditch fashion for utility just yet. Not for a normal patrol anyway. Maybe I could take it just in case though. Anything major comes up and I wouldn't care about coordination as much as how many weapons I can carry.”

Xander tried not to show how much it hurt that she didn't like his gift. “Sure. That's cool,” he said as he handed her the belt.

“Thanks. Ready to go?” she said as she picked up her spear.

“Just waiting on you,” he picked up his bow.

* * *

Patrolling with Buffy. He'd missed this. He tried to think back how long it had been since they'd patrolled together. It had been a while. He mentioned that fact to Buffy.

She looked away. “I know. I like patrolling with you guys, but you did kinda...”

“Get in the way?” he finished.

She shrugged. “I did end up having to save you guys an inordinate number of times.”

“Inordinate?”

“Okay, those might have been Giles' words,” she admitted.

“So Giles didn't want us going out anymore?” he surmised. 

“We talked about it,” Buffy admitted. “But it wasn't like we decided that you would never patrol with me again. I just didn't want to see you guys hurt so much,” she continued quickly. “I love you guys. Both. As friends,” she amended her words, not wanting to give the wrong ideas.

A vampire popped up from the bushes ahead and Xander idly shot it and nocked another arrow in one smooth motion. “And now?” he asked as he bent to retrieve the used arrow. He blew the dust off it and put it back in his quiver.

“Obviously, you're better able to protect yourself now,” she said. “But even Willow with a spear is still Willow and I worry about her being able to protect herself. You know?”

Xander poked himself in the chest. “Willow's friend since forever here. I know how much you want to protect her. That was always our job. Jesse and me. Now it's our job, you and me. So yeah, I guess I don't mind seeing her fray adjacent right now.”

“Fray adjacent?” Buffy smirked.

Xander laughed and shrugged. “You're not the only one Giles has rubbed off on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I've always been of the opinion that Drusilla was never truly hurt or sick. Unless that mob in Prague had a magic user to cast something that permanently hurt her, there was never anything mentioned that could harm a vampire like that. Heck, Spike healed a broken spine. And he stayed in his chair long after he was healed too. Why? Same reason she was 'sick'. It got him sympathy from Dru. Dru pretended to be sick so that Spike would love her. Her 'cure' was Spike needing her. In this case, a need for revenge.
> 
> A/N: “I want to cut his heart out with a spoon.” is a line from the Robin Hood movie where Allan Rickman plays the Sheriff of Nottingham. Whosoever played Robin Hood shall not be mentioned in this fic. Do not own.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

“We threw everything we had at him, ma'am. No one came back alive,” the minion reported. He thought working for Spike had been tough, but Drusilla was fucking scary. You could never be sure how she'd react to news. She might give you a kitten or she might dust you on the spot.

“Not everything, kitten,” Dru turned over a Tarot card. “The Order of Taraka.”

There were gasps and murmurs throughout the assembled minions.

“Call them! Now!” she yelled. The minions disappeared. _Yes. They'd take care of that nasty archer, then she could have the Slayer all to herself._

Then another voice caught her ear. “Man, this is so cool. I could live here.” A minion grabbed the intruder's arms and brought him forward.

His mind was so delicious. Already so full of death even while he was alive. “Bring him to me,” she ordered softly.

“I know what you want,” he said. The Slayer flashed through her mind.

“I think not. But I know what you want. You want my kiss. The kiss of death.” She smiled. “But I don't want the Slayer. I want Robin Hood. Bring me the Slayer's friend, Robin Hood, and I shall give you what you wish.” With a wave of her hand, she dismissed him and went back to shuffling her Tarot cards. She missed Spike. It had been so much easier when he could make these decisions and all she had to do all night was listen to the stars sing.

* * *

“So, how was your date?” Buffy asked cheerfully.

Giles glanced around the library to make sure they were alone. “She took me to see 'monster trucks'.”

Buffy had to cover her mouth to stifle the laughter. Even so, her shoulders still shook with mirth. 

“Yes. Well, it certainly was a _unique_ experience,” he tried to put a good spin on having his hearing permanently damaged like that. “How was your patrol? Did you take Xander along?”

Buffy's mood soured quickly. “Yes. And I'm never taking him along again.”

“Good Lord. Did he do that badly?” Giles was stunned.

“No! That good! There were plenty of vamps out but there wasn't anything for me to kill. We found a group of nine vamps and I only got one. I had to throw my spear to get that and Xander's arrow hit it before it dusted, so he's trying to claim half of it. But it was _so_ my kill,” Buffy complained. “I mean his accuracy wasn't quite what we saw in the library what with it being outdoors and at night and all. But he was still really good. 

“Seriously, Giles. We found this huge, really armored demon. I thought it was going to be really tough when Xander's first arrow broke hitting it in the chest, but Xander put an arrow in an eye and it keeled over,” she snapped her fingers, “like that,” she huffed. “I mean, the night before was super quiet, but I get a busy night and I didn't even need to be there.” She sighed.

“I see,” Giles hid a grin by biting on the end of his glasses. “Perhaps in the future you two should patrol separately most of the time. It will allow you to cover more of Sunnydale without, presumably, endangering either of you. If Xander is up to it, I think I shall patrol with him tonight. To... get a feel for his skills in the real world.”

“Better you than me,” Buffy said.

“Did anything else happen on patrol?”

“No. Well not really,” Buffy hesitated, but continued at Giles' insistence. “Did you meet my friend Ford from Hemery? Well, anyway. My friend Billy Fordham from Hemery High shows up, apparently he's going to this school now. Anyway, I guess he figured out I'm the Slayer. He wanted to come patrolling but he had a fever so I made him go home instead.”

“How do you spell Fordham?” Giles asked from behind the computer where he was pecking out keys one by one.

“F-O-R-D-H-A-M.”

Giles entered the letters then swallowed. “Buffy, there's no record of a William, Billy, or any other Fordham registered at Sunnydale.”

“Oh good, you already know,” Willow said from the doors.

“Know what?” Xander asked coming from the stacks.

Giles cleared his throat. “I'm afraid that Mr. Fordham is not registered for classes at Sunnydale. Now it doesn't mean that-”

Willow cut him off. “His dad wasn't transferred here either. His parents are still in LA. The only thing I could find for him was a club in the warehouse district. The Sunset Club.”

“Did you walk him to his house?” Xander asked the Slayer.

“Almost,” she sighed in realization. “He said he'd be fine and for me to go back. God. How could I be so stupid?”

“Well now, Buffy. This is all still circumstantial yet. Perhaps there's a good explanation,” Giles allowed not really believing it, but hoping for his Slayer’s sake.

“He's sick,” Xander said.

Giles frowned. “Well, let's not jump to name calling-”

Buffy interrupted, “No, Giles. He really is sick. He had a fever. He claimed it was the flu but he lied about everything else...”

“Well, let's look at the facts. What do we know about him?” Giles pulled out a pen and paper.

“He's sick,” Xander repeated.

“He knows about the Slayer.”

“He came to a town infested with vampires to look for the Slayer.”

“He owns a club in the warehouse district.”

“Yes, very good,” Giles said when no other answers were forthcoming.

“He's sick,” Xander repeated. Again.

“Yes, Xander. Thank you. We got that one,” Giles said.

“No. What I mean is, are there any mystical cures that require a Slayer?” Xander explained his thoughts.

Giles removed his glasses and started nibbling the end. “I know of a few that require Slayer blood. There might be others. That's an excellent idea, Xander. Any other ideas anyone?”

“It doesn't explain the club,” Willow pointed out.

“Yes, well. Perhaps you and Xander could investigate the club after school? For now, I shall research the mystical cures avenue. Though it would help if I knew what he was sick with. Buffy, if you see Ford...”

“Got it. Interrogate.” She gave a sad thumbs up.

“Gently. We're still not sure if he's an enemy yet.”

“It's not looking good, Giles.”

He nodded sadly. “No, it is not.”

* * *

That Ford failed to show up for class was hardly surprising considering he wasn't actually registered. Still, it didn't put the minds of those suspicious of him at ease. Scooby nerves were on edge when they met in the library after class.

“Right. I've made a list of all the mystical cures that require Slayer blood and a few that require...” Giles glanced at Buffy in embarrassment, “other parts.”

“Eww,” the Slayer shook her head.

“Yes. Anyway. Buffy, your job tonight will be to try to track down and capture Ford. And if you can do that simply by asking him nicely to escort you back here, then by all means try that first. Xander and I will be patrolling tonight. Willow, if you could continue your research into Ford's ultimate reason for being here until sundown and then take Angel with you to investigate the club you found? Wonderful. Any questions?”

“Yeah, if we're going patrolling tonight, do you think we could train a bit first?” Xander requested.

“Y- Yes. I suppose that would be a good idea.” Giles was unused to having someone _ask_ to train with him. Usually, getting Buffy to train was like pulling teeth. “I assume you mean with the spear, as I understand you need no further training with the bow.”

“Actually, I need lots more training with the bow. Spear too. But I was thinking of swords for now. Ollie has used them and I wanted to know if any skills transferred over,” Xander said.

“Yes, I think that would be a wise course of action then.” Giles agreed. “Very well, you all have your assignments for the night. Xander and I should be back by 10 o'clock.”

* * *

Giles put on his chest protector and a helmet this time. When dealing with mystically granted skills it was best not to take chances. A lesson he had learned last time. Which was also why they were using wooden practice swords. He was very sure of his own skills, which meant it wasn't necessary for Xander to wear protection. The boy had also declined to empty his pockets. Explaining that he preferred to 'train the way you fight'. And if any other student had shown him the 3 inch folding knife and survival lighter in his pockets, he'd have confiscated them in an instant. But he knew that for Xander, such things were a lifeline. A way to feel safe(r) when he couldn't carry a better weapon.

Watching the boy walk through the halls these last couple days was like watching a wraith. There was no joy on his face. And there was a tension that only eased as he approached the library or one of his other hiding spots. Such thoughts were driven from his mind as they began sparring.

* * *

“Enough. That was well done,” Giles called a stop to the bout. Xander hadn't been wrong. He had _some_ skill with the blade anyway. Enough to be called a gifted novice or an early journeyman. Not a challenge for Giles and the boy hadn't laid a blow on him, though not for lack of effort or inventiveness. But enough skill that Giles would be willing to loan the boy a sword for when he patrolled and be confident that he wouldn't kill himself or an innocent with it and that it would be a good backup to his bow and spear.

The thought of Xander's weapons brought back the thoughts he was having before the match. “Xander. I've been giving some thoughts about what you said about options for your schooling. Do you remember what you said?” Giles began.

“You mean about me studying here?” Xander wiped his face with a towel and shrugged. “I'm okay.”

“Xander,” Giles frowned. “It's only been... what? Two days. And I can already see the toll it's taking on you.”

Xander grabbed a water bottle and sucked greedily instead of answering.

“I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but the school has a work/study program in place for students who either need or want to work a job during school hours and still get credit for attending school. The council has... a position. It's a bit like an apprentice watcher. The pay isn't much but the hours are extremely flexible. If you were to take the offer, your responsibilities would primarily include making weapons for the Slayer as well as assisting with demonic research. If you continue patrolling there would be a bonus that would actually be much larger than the salary.”

“So, pretty much what I'm doing now but I'd get paid for it,” Xander observed.

“Yes, well. You'd be expected to do a bit more studying into ancient languages so you can help more with the research. But you'd get paid for it and any expenses you have would be reimbursed.”

“Expenses such as arrow making and leather working tools?”

Giles considered for a moment before agreeing.

“I'm in,” Xander stated.

“Well, just a second. Let me finish, please. As I was about to say. Should you take this opportunity, your schedule would be more flexible. You could stay out all night, hunting, and then come to the library to do your school work and visit with your friends when you woke up. Then study other things, train, and make weapons the rest of the time.”

After a pause Xander asked, “Are you done?”

“Yes.”

“I'm in.”

Giles couldn't help but chuckle.

* * *

As Xander and Giles worked out the details of Xander's new job, an idea occurred to him. “Say, Giles. Why don't Slayers do it this way too. I mean, it would kinda make sense. More patrolling time and all.”

Giles nodded. “Most Slayers do follow a similar schedule. Private tutoring in the afternoon followed by training and then a full night of patrolling. Buffy is unique, however. And few Sunnydale residents are out of their homes past midnight, making late patrols extraneous. This way, Buffy gets to lead a somewhat normal life, which is also something of an oddity among Slayers.”

They went into their discussion about what kind of weapons Xander could make for Buffy.

* * *

As Giles accompanied Xander on his patrol, he couldn't help but be impressed with the young man's skills. He'd missed only one kill shot at a fairly long range, though he claimed the beast had moved mid-flight. He asserted that such things would happen less once he was strong enough to pull a full weight bow. The fact that Xander was making fairly decent shots in the dark was impressive. That he was doing it left handed was especially impressing to the left handed librarian.

“That's four,” Xander tallied the count for the night as he blew the dust off his arrow. “A lot slower than last night.”

“Yes, Buffy gave me the rundown of the other night. That was a particularly busy night. I'm afraid you can't expect that many vampires every night,” Giles informed him.

“What would be common?”

Giles thought for a moment. “Well, Buffy usually reports five or six vampires and an occasional miscellaneous demon. And I'd like to point out now that an accurate description as well as anything they say or any identifying markings always goes a long way to averting any disasters.”

“Noted.”

“Though she usually only patrols until one or two in the morning. If you patrol all night, there's no telling what you might find,” Giles said. “But not tonight. It will take a few days to get the paperwork for the work/study program through. But hopefully next week.”

“I can live with that,” Xander nodded before turning to continue his hunt.

* * *

Giles and Xander were sitting around the library table when Angel and Willow entered. 

“Oh, it was horrible,” Willow complained. “Not Horrible, horrible. Just, you know, icky horrible. There were all these people an-”

“It was a vampire worshiping cult,” Angel broke in. “A bunch of idiots who know nothing about vampires.”

“Oh, except for that one!” Willow chimed in. At a look from Angel, she added, “Or not.”

“Anyway, he knows about the Slayer and owns a club full of vampire worshipers. That's not a good combination in my book,” Angel summarized.

“Nor mine,” Giles agreed. “Now we just have to wait and see if Buffy found Ford.”

* * *

Buffy searched all over the neighborhood she had left Ford at the night before but was unsurprised to find no trace of him. She even considered going door to door but didn't have a current picture of him. As it got dark, she started searching in a spiral out from the last place she'd last seen him.

“Nice evening for a walk, eh Summers?”

“Ford. Bestest bud of mine. You weren't at school today. Everyone was so worried,” Buffy replied sarcastically. “Are you feeling well?”

“Cut the act, Summers,” Ford ordered. Buffy never was a very good actress. “And for the record. You were right. I am sick. Dying of brain tumors, if you must know. Not that it will matter soon.”

“Wait. What?”

Ford pointed behind her. “She's going to make me immortal.”

Buffy turned and found herself eye to eye with Drusilla. She was too close and Dru easily caught the spear as Buffy turned. For all the advantages of spears, they weren't much good once your opponent got past the sharp, pointy end.

“Look at me,” Drusilla began chanting. “Be... in my eyes. Be... in me.”

Buffy and Drusilla started swaying together.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

A vampire came in through the back stacks. “Drusilla has the S-”

She was cut off when an arrow pierced her heart.

“Dammit,” Xander swore. “Sorry.” he went to retrieve the arrow.

Giles sighed. “You could have waited until we received the message,” he tutted.

“I said I was sorry. The arrow was on the way before she started talking.” Xander turned back to the stacks and yelled, “We kinda killed your messenger accidentally. We didn't get the whole message. Could you repeat that?”

No reply came.

“Well, seeing as Buffy is late and what we did hear of the message would indicate that they have a hostage named 'the Sss.' Though we don't know where. Presumably the rest of the message would have contained details of where she might be,” Giles summarized.

“How many times does a guy have to say he's sorry?” Xander asked.

“I think that will do,” Giles said. “Right. Angel, why don't you go back to the club and make sure that Buffy is not there. The rest of us will stay here and- and research.”

“Research what?” Xander asked. “Do you have a book that tells us where Drusilla is living? An undead yellow pages? We'd be better off asking Angel. He's her dad, he might know.”

“Wh- What?” Giles looked at Angel.

Angel bowed his head. “I sired her. A long time ago.”

“And do you... know?... Where she is?”

“There's some factories she and Spike were using. I'd check there first if she hasn't moved on. If she's not there, I know some people we can ask,” Angel admitted.

“You knew where Spike was the whole time and never told us?” Willow was outraged. (for Willow)

“That's because it would have been a suicide mission. Spike was always very good about guarding the lair. If we're lucky, Dru isn't as good. Plus we have a new weapon.” he looked at Xander.

Xander nodded. “I'll need to get the rest of my arrows from my garage. Speaking of which, can you enter an attached garage?”

“No. If they even share the same roof, they're safe. Completely separate garages are fair game though,” Angel answered.

“Good to know.”

“Yes, yes, yes. Could we get a move on?” Giles grabbed his coat.

* * *

“Okay. Let's get everyone armed up.” Xander walked over to the weapons.

“Umm... I can't come in unless you invite me.” Angel said from the doorway.

“More than aware of that,” Xander said as he threw a stake and a spear to the vampire. “Willow, you get a stake and a spear. Giles, you get two stakes and a spear. And I guess I'll give my backup stake to Angel so he has two too.” Xander pulled a stake from his weapon belt and threw it to Angel. He gathered up the rest of his arrows and tied them in a bundle then he did the same to his practice arrows. “The first thing I'm doing tomorrow is buying more arrows and a couple quivers.

“Willow, you're going to have to be my extra quiver,” Xander requested. She began to protest but he continued. “It's the best way you can help. Angel and Giles are better fighters than you and I'll run out of arrows fast if you don't help refill my quiver. Can you do that for me?”

She nodded.

“Okay everyone ready? Let's play follow the vampire!” Xander snarked.

* * *

It was a simple plan as plans went. Angel and Giles both agreed that simple was better. The two of them agreeing was enough to give Xander the willies. The plan was that Xander would shoot the shit out of the guards at the front door with Willow refilling his quiver until he was out of arrows or vampires, whichever came first. If there were vampires left, he had two spears and a sword while Willow had her spear too. While Xander and Willow were attracting all the attention, Giles and Angel would try to sneak quietly in the back.

Xander's quiver held 25 arrows comfortably. He had 12 more broadheads left once those were gone plus the 10 practice arrows.

He took down 21 vampires with the first 25 arrows. Only missing a few where the vamp dodged enough that he missed the heart on the first shot. “Okay, Will. Put the rest of the broadheads in,” he ordered. As soon as they were in another group of vamps attacked and he began shooting again. _One, two, three,_ he counted silently. He hated to admit it but Angel might have been right. If these were the reduced defenses, attacking Spike at home really would have been suicide. It still might, if the number of vamps didn't slack off soon. “Okay, now the practice arrows.” The first one he nocked happened to be the repaired arrow. The one he hadn't shot since repairing it.

Another vampire started to come out, but it was moving slowly. Xander held off shooting right away this time. It was Angel.

“Naughty, naughty. You've been a bad kitty. You were told to come alone and unarmed,” Drusilla said from behind Angel. She had her head resting on his right shoulder and a stake pressed to his heart.

“Actually, we didn't get the whole message. Messenger turned to dust before she was done,” Xander replied, still holding a full draw. His arm was beat and was starting to shake but he didn’t dare let the tension out of the bow. Doing so might be fatal to Angel.

“Such a pity. She was a dutiful little daughter. Was I a dutiful little daughter, Daddy?” She turned back to Xander without waiting for an answer, “Now drop your weapons or your friends die,” she ordered.

Xander hesitated. He hadn't shot this arrow since it had been repaired and he couldn't say for sure where it would hit. Or even if it would hit. And his arm would give out soon. Time to ask his conscience. “Will?” 

“Shoot the hostage,” Willow ordered.

* * *

Both vampires' eyes went wide when the arrow was loosed. Drusilla's eyes might have even gone wide before the shot was loosed. Seers just don't fight fair.

Xander watched in horror as Drusilla pushed Angel forward. Time slowed down to allow him to visualize all the ways in which Buffy would torture and kill him: some were very inventive. Time started to crawl back to normal speed and Xander noticed that Drusilla's right foot was hooked in front of Angel's, tripping him. Xander hadn't had a chance to test his theory that a wooden arrow through the head of a vamp would also kill it. But it looked like he might get an accidental test right now.

The tip of the blunted practice arrow caught Angel's ear; flesh and blood sprayed behind him. Which was when Xander noticed the other effect of Drusilla's push of Angel was to rotate her body out of the path of the arrow. Whether her vampire speed allowed her to dodge the arrow or whether it was her seer powers, they didn't save her from being splattered with the remnants of Angel's ear.

Xander already had another arrow nocked automatically, but he'd hesitated drawing it to see the outcome of the last arrow. Drusilla took advantage of that delay, hissed at him, and started running. Xander tried to fire another arrow but couldn't produce a full draw right handed and the arrow clattered harmlessly to the ground several yards short. So many arrows so fast, his arm and shoulder were spent. 

Of course, two more vamps had to come out to check on things. Angel was lying face-down and not breathing. But since he was a vamp, it wasn't a problem. The vamps looked from Xander to Angel and back again. 

It gave Xander time to pull his spears and instruct Willow, “I've got right. You take left.” 

He hefted the spear in his right hand and decided that that arm wasn't going to be throwing jack. So he reared back his left and chucked it at his chosen vamp. It wouldn't have killed the vamp even if he hadn't dodged but it did cause him to veer off course. The other vamp continued straight at Willow not even glancing at Xander. Xander switched his remaining spear to his left hand and carefully kept his eyes off the other vamp until it was close enough for him to strike. The vampire's own momentum drove him onto the spear.

“No fair,” the vamp said before it dusted.

Xander pulled his spear out and faced the last vampire. Sounds of fighting came from inside the factory, so maybe not last. Xander sighed.

“You won't get me with a stupid trick like that,” the vampire bragged.

“I don't have to,” Xander smiled. “I just have to hold your attention long enough for Angel to stake you in the back.”

“What?” The vamp turned.

Xander struck.

Unfortunately, he caught the vamp's arm which absorbed most of the attack without letting him get to the ribcage. The vampire screamed in pain and rage at having been tricked. Xander pulled back his spear but the monster was too fast. He grabbed the weapon and tore it from Xander's grip, tossing it away. Xander danced back and pulled his sword.

The saber that Giles had loaned him was designed for Xander's 'hack and slash' style. It was also far better at beheading things than Giles' favored rapiers.

Of course, with Xander's shoulder nearly useless, the sword was really more of a distraction so that Xander could use the stake he pulled with his left hand.

They danced back and forth for a minute. “Come on. What are you waiting for?” the vamp started getting frustrated.

Xander looked over the vampire's shoulder. “I was just waiting for her to get behind you.”

The vampire smirked. “Oh, no. I'm not falling for th-” he was cut off when he turned to dust. Buffy pulled the stake out of where his heart had been.

“Hey Buff.” Xander put his sword away. When he looked up, she was already gone. He looked around and found her kneeling next to Angel. Xander put away his stake, noted that Giles was sitting against the wall of the factory, then turned to check on Willow.

“I'm so useless,” Willow sighed and handed him her spear.

“You're not useless,” Xander assured her. “I got an extra dozen vamps because of you.”

Willow gave a wan smile, “Great. I make an excellent quiver.”

“Don't forget the fact that you're my conscience,” Xander added. “Plus computer-girl. No one else in the group is either of those things. In fact, I think Giles is the anti-computer-girl. I mean, not only does he not like computers, but he's not even a girl.”

Willow gave a small chuckle at that. “Thanks Xander.”

“No problem. I'm going to go over here now so that Buffy can tear me limb from limb for shooting Angel even though he's not dead. Okay, well not any more dead than normal. Promise you won't let them turn me just so she can kill me again?”

“I promise.” Willow patted his arm.

Xander steeled himself to face the music.

* * *

Xander walked over to where Buffy and Angel were, collecting arrows on the way, while Willow did the same while walking towards Giles.

“You shot Angel!” Buffy accused. 

“Buffy, I said it was fine,” Angel answered before Xander could. Though he was holding his ear so Xander couldn't judge the truth of the words.

“Can I see it?” he asked. Angel let his hand down. 

Vampire healing was already kicking in and it wasn't bleeding much any more but it still looked horrible. There was a bloody rivulet down Angel's right cheek ending at his ear. The ear looked like it had been torn in half from the blow. There was a chunk the shape of a river delta missing.

Xander winced. He didn't want to cause his friends pain. Even if they barely tolerated each other. “Sorry 'bout that.”

“Saved me from whatever it was that Dru had in mind for me. I'd happily have given both ears to get out of her clutches,” Angel assured him.

“It was still a stupid decision,” Buffy said. “What if Drusilla had just pulled him into the path of the arrow instead? You could have killed him.”

Xander looked over at Willow. “Shoot the hostage.”

“That's it. You guys are getting your movie-watching privileges revoked. And Xander's getting a spanking,” Buffy said glumly.

* * *

“How are you doing, Mr. Giles?” Willow asked the seated watcher.

Giles looked up at her. He had a cut lip and what would soon be a nice shiner. He smiled despite the injuries. “I'm fine, Willow. The most serious injury I received was a twisted ankle. When it became clear that Angel and I were not going to be able to sneak in, I gave up and played possum. Once the guards weren't looking, I picked Buffy's manacles and let her put down the vampires. Once everything was safe, I managed to slip on a piece of scrap metal and twist my ankle. Hardly a heroic injury, I'm afraid.”

“More heroic than me. I didn't even face a vampire. Just Xander's extra quiver is all,” Willow pouted. Giles motioned for her to sit next to him. He put an arm around her. Willow tried not to show how good something like that made her feel.

“If it's any consolation, if you weren't here, I would be the weakest fighter here and would have volunteered to be Xander's 'extra quiver'. Which would have meant there would have been no one to help Buffy out of the chains and the dozen vampires she slew would have come out and possibly finished off Xander and me.”

“Wouldn't it be Xander and I?” Willow wondered.

“No, no. You take out the other person and listen to how it sounds. So, would you say, 'finished off I' or 'finished off me'?” the librarian corrected.

“Oh, good point. And- and about the helping thing too. Good point. Also.” Willow nodded. “Everyone helped.”

Giles gave her another squeeze before releasing her. “Exactly.”

They sat in silence for a second before they overheard Buffy saying, “That's it. You guys are getting your movie-watching privileges revoked. And Xander's getting a spanking.”

“Careful Buffy, he might like that,” Willow quipped. Then gasped and covered her mouth as if she didn't believe she'd just said that. “I- I didn't- I mean, I wouldn't-”

Xander looked over at Willow with glee. That was quite a zinger for Willow. Buffy was also in shock, shy little Willow had come up with that? Angel just looked between Buffy and Xander and tried to gauge how much attraction was there. 

Willow's mind had somewhat shutdown at her own boldness. She was pulled from her reverie by a light shake from Giles.

“Willow,” Giles gently urged. “Why don't we finish collecting Xander's arrows while the others talk?” He pushed her up then held out a hand, “Help me up.” With one good ankle and Willow's help, he was able to get to his feet.

“Okay! Moving on. How's everyone else? Buff?” Xander clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention off Willow.

Buffy shook her head. “I'm fine. Drusilla put her mind whammy on me, so nothing but a few cuts on my wrists from trying to get out. Giles is going to need to go to the hospital.”

“I'm fine, Buffy,” the librarian insisted. “Really. When it became clear that my defeat was inevitable, I gave up and played possum. It's mostly just bruising and a twisted ankle. Ice and a few days off my feet are all I need.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: “Shoot the hostage” is from the movie Speed. I do not own.
> 
> “I was just waiting for her to get behind you.” is from Firefly, though Xander wouldn't know that. Do not own.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

With the council buying all the tools he needed, Xander was really able to get to work that week. Giles even arranged the rental of a small, two story shop not too far from school after they decided that storing these tools at Xander's house was too risky and Giles' apartment was too small. The first thing he'd done was make some arrows fit for his bow, with a softer spine to fit the lower poundage he was currently shooting. 

He started the first batch of what was to be 200 matched arrows then turned his attention to his bracers. They had been a rough job. Some cotton sewn between two strips of leather, but they had served their purpose. His new bracers used thicker leather along with three thin, metal bars each and some closed-cell padding. Compared to his old bracers, he almost couldn't feel the string. He also purchased 50 aluminum arrows from the sporting goods store. He had a few ideas they might work better for than wood.

Next, he set about improving Buffy's stock of stakes. Clunky ones made of hardwood were set aside to be remade if they were big enough. Smaller ones and any made of pine or other softwoods were chucked into the scrap box. Buffy appreciated the effort. She said the new stakes went in much smoother than her old ones. She wouldn't forgive him for shooting Angel, yet. But it was a start. He wasn't sure if ignoring the double entendre bought him any points, but he was pretty sure that pointing it out would have cost him, so he let it be.

On Friday, he and Giles met with the school work/study integration assistant who was, fortunately, not Snyder. He explained that he wanted to do this but still wanted to graduate at the same time. Giles explained about the job and how he would be assisting with the tutoring.

“You can start work on Monday,” the assistant told him before leaving.

“Wow, that was easier than I thought,” Xander said after the man had left.

“Now, I suppose we can get down to business. Perhaps build some of those experimental weapons you wanted.” Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose. Xander had more than a few... unique ideas about weapons. He wasn't sure half of them were even possible.

“Come on, Giles. The folding spear is a great idea. A spear that Buffy can take wherever she goes.” Xander insisted.

“Oh very well,” Giles gave in. “You may build a prototype as long as the cost doesn't exceed $100.”

* * *

The clerk at hardware store just smiled when Xander described what he wanted. “Yeah, we got something like that. Let me take you in back.” The back room of the hardware store clearly said that this person was in the know. Crosses hung everywhere. There were stakes and bottles of holy water lining the shelves. The stakes, however, were real stakes meant for tents first and vampires second rather than the pure weapons Xander was making.

“You're not the first person to come here asking for things like that,” Sam, the owner of the hardware store said before he introduced himself. It turned out he wasn’t nearly as oblivious as he thought most of the locals were. Sam even claimed that there were hundreds of people in Sunnydale who were either aware or superstitious enough to purchase these items. He never initiated a conversation like this unless he was absolutely sure they knew. “Don't want to be labeled as the crazy shop owner. Bad for business. But you're walking around town carrying a spear, so I figure you either know or are crazy yourself.

“Anyway, I take it you want to make a folding spear? Not surprised. A full sized spear kinda sticks out. I have this, it comes with a hinge and a sleeve you slide up over the hinge once it's locked to give it some extra strength. It's good. But my favorites are these.” Sam showed him some male and female brass fittings that looked like they'd fit his spears. “These screw together. Only takes a second more than the hinges and when you're done, you still have a nice, smooth spear.”

“How much?”

It was only a couple of bucks each, but he only had the hinges to fit 1.5 inch dowels. So Xander ended up getting a thicker dowel to go with the hinge. He got a couple bottles of Holy Water too as an afterthought. Always handy to have around.

* * *

Xander set to work on his new, council bought, wood working gear and adjusted his new safety glasses. It was amazing how much better he could see with the new glasses which weren’t all scratched up or made blurry from sitting in the sun too long. He made a new, thicker spear and then cut it and one of his old ones in half. He attached the hinge to the walnut spear halves and screwed the metal fittings into the other pieces. Staring at his creation, he had an epiphany. He cut just the tiniest the tip off of one of Buffy's old stakes from his scrap pile and epoxied it onto the male end of the screw-together fittings. Once it was set, he tested it to make sure it still worked. He had to drill out the female end an extra half inch before it would fit, but when he was done, male end of the set was also effectively a stake.

He ran back downtown to the hardware store. He had to wait for a customer to leave before he could show Sam. But the way the man's eyes bugged out when he realized what he'd done was worth it.

“Well, now. Looks like I have a little work to do tonight,” Sam said, thinking of adding those wooden tips to his own screw-together spears.

“I had to drill out the female end a little bit to make it fit,” Xander explained. “And that was a lot less dirty in my head.”

“I figured as much,” Sam laughed.

* * *

“The biggest bonus for this type is that I epoxied a piece of wood to the tip of the bottom piece, meaning it could be used as an emergency stake if it had to be,” Xander finished explaining his new spears to Buffy and Giles.

“Thank you, Xander,” Giles said. “That certainly gives us a few things to think about. Buffy, anything to add?”

“I'll give them a try at training tomorrow. 'K?” Buffy offered.

“Sounds good,” Xander nodded.

* * *

When Xander was finished patrolling in the morning, he went to the butts. The first time he'd shot had been in the Library. At 30 yards, he'd hit the bullseye easily every time. Now he found some vacant land and set up targets at either end. He walked off 50 yards and found he was still hitting the bullseye. It was harder though, his grouping wasn't nearly as tight. Outside, there were more factors to take in such as windage and elevation. He found his mind automatically calculating things like that. But he had to think for a moment to adjust. He moved the targets to 75 yards before he finally started hitting outside the 9 ring. Maybe his arms were just getting tired, but that was the distance he decided to practice at for now.

He now had a lot more practice arrows so he could shoot more and from further away without having to run and collect arrows as much. With two quivers of 25 arrows on each shoulder and another two on each hip, he could shoot 100 arrows at a time and train each shoulder evenly. So long as his shoulders could take it and he had enough room on the targets. He was shooting at multiple targets, sometimes switching between them after each shot and sometimes walking while shooting.

And now that he was practicing outside, he could practice dropping shots; shooting up into the air and having the arrows fall down onto the target. The arrows traveled the equivalent of several hundred yards this way and he did not hit the bullseye with consistency, though he at least hit the targets unless there was a strong gust of wind. He did speed tests to see how many arrows he could get into the air, period. Oliver's record was ten. Xander was only getting four or five. It was hard to guess how much was due to a lighter bow not putting the arrows as high and how much was just Xander wasn't up to Oliver's standards yet for drawing speed.

A favorite game of Oliver's was to see how many arrows he could get in the air (on or near target) and still get an arrow into the target before they hit. Xander’s record so far was three, which was quite a bit down from Ollie's usual six or seven.

When he woke that afternoon, his shoulders ached; a good sign that they were growing stronger. His fingers, however, were not growing stronger as quickly. He wasn't building up calluses fast enough and they hurt. He was forced to make some archery gloves before his fingers started bleeding from the abuse. He also picked up some elbow bands to prevent tendonitis. That had been a painful lesson for Ollie to learn. Much like professional athletes and members of the special forces, training your body to its limits reduced the shelf life of said body. It was good to take precautions to prevent that.

He only used the gloves for training, though, preferring the tactile feel of the arrows when he was hunting. Even if it hurt a little while his fingers were healing.

He was starting to think of it as hunting too. Vampires were only slightly more dangerous than a full grown wild boar. They were harder to kill, needing a good heart shot, but they weren't any more intelligent than boars. Most were less so. With Spike gone and Drusilla M.I.A., he wasn't sure there were any intelligent vampires left in the city. He made a mental note to try to mention that fact to Buffy while Angel was around sometime.

* * *

Buffy declined to use the folding spear. Xander wasn't surprised. The idea had come from Green Arrow and it hadn't turned out like he'd hoped. Too noisy, to bulky, and because it stuck out from the spear – it got in the way when fighting. Oliver had some great ideas but not all of them were workable on a council budget; most weren’t even possible in the real world.

But the spear that screwed together worked well. Even gave the spear a little extra heft. A Slayer didn't care about weight as much. But the size was too big. Even cut in half, it was too long to be concealable. They did some measuring and found that Buffy's backpack could hold something 20 inches long. Xander would have to add a secret compartment so that the spear pieces wouldn't fall out when she took out her books, but it was doable. Three pieces would give her a spear 5 feet long. An acceptable compromise to ensure she would have access to a better weapon with only a minute’s warning.

Xander took her backpack to the shop with him while Buffy scowled and complained at having to use an old duffel bag to carry her books home.

He set to work on making the spear first, or spears; since, when he was picking up the fittings, he'd decided to make himself one too. Perhaps if he could carry a spear like this, he might be able to return to school sometime. He got some extra dowels so he wouldn't have to cut up any more spears he'd already made. 

Once the pieces were cut, he'd started attaching the fittings when the door opened behind him. Xander dropped what he was doing and jumped for the rack of spears. A young woman came in. She was as small and petite as Buffy. And when she took off her sunglasses, he realized she wasn't that young at all. Maybe 40.

“Hi,” she gave a shy smile. “Sorry if I startled you.”

“Huh?” Xander realized he was gripping a spear tightly. He put it back on the rack. “No. I'm sorry. Just not used to visitors. What can I do for you?” To say that he was confused by having a visitor would be an understatement.

“Well, you see,” she began. “I've got this tent... and we're going camping... but the hardware store only had big stakes. They- they don't fit my hand.” she held up her hands to show him how small they were.

“Oh. Oh!” Xander caught on. “Ri-ight. You need a _stake_. For your _tent_.” He picked up one of his stakes and handed it to her. “Something like this?”

“Oh, that's perfect. And it's so light! How much?”

“Umm... Well, we're not technically a store but I was going to charge $10-”

“Done!” she dug out her wallet and handed him a $20. He had to give her a $5 and five $1s out of his wallet in change. Then she left as quickly as she'd come; the carved handle of her new stake sticking out of her purse.

Xander shook his head. Just when he thought he had the Hellmouth figured out. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down 'Stakes' then put a line next to it. He'd negotiate with Giles later over percentages. He figured the council would want a small cut in addition to the cost of the supplies. But Oliver Queen was a brilliant business man and growing up poor had given Xander an appreciation of money. Between the two of them, they'd figure out a way to make money from this if there was money to be made.

Xander moved his work bench and rotated some tools so he could face the front door while he worked. He didn't want to be snuck up on again. He also made a note to buy a bell for the door so he could hear when someone came in, then he went back to finishing the spears.

Once they were done he started on Buffy's backpack. He cut a piece of leather to fit the back and bottom then sewed it on. He cut through the bottom and the leather reinforcement to make the hole Buffy would use to access the spear pieces.

He placed those pieces on the leather then took another strip of leather and placed it over the spear. After that he sewed it into place and around the hole he had cut, sealing it off from the rest of the bag. He took the spear out and sewed a zipper onto the hole. Finally, he put the spear back in and zipped it up.

“Not bad.” even if he did say so himself. He put a couple of the books he was reading for Giles in the bag to test it out. The spear dug a little, but not painfully. Just enough to remind you it was there. On a 10 mile hike, he wouldn't like it. For a couple minutes at a time in the halls at school, he figured it would be fine.

He'd show it to Buffy tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: On dropping shots. Mongol archers were said to keep 7 arrows in the air fairly consistently. Heroic archers were said to be able to get 10 into the air before the first one hit. And a guy on YouTube has a video of him setting the world record by getting 11 into the air.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

Giles had been right about not knowing what happened after Buffy went to bed. After 2 o'clock AM Monday morning, the denizens of the night came out to play. Not that there was much prey for them with all the humans safely in their homes. But after the Slayer went to bed, Sunnydale belonged to the monsters.

 _Or at least it did_ , Xander told himself. But now he was the hunter and they were the prey. The only concern he had at the moment was not scaring away his prey. If they went to ground, or underground in this case, it would make the hunting much more difficult. So he was careful to only take individuals or small groups and to leave no survivors.

In the downtown area, hunting was fairly easy. The buildings were close together and of similar height so that he could run/jump between them. Demons were not on the lookout for death from above, barely even glancing around them to check for... presumably the Slayer. Not that Xander was any better. A couple of demons stumbled across him when he climbed down into an alley to retrieve his arrows from a kill. The portion of his mind that he thought of as Oliver Queen berated him for his carelessness and his lack of attention to his surroundings. He dispatched the interlopers before they could raise an alarm but it had certainly given him a jolt of adrenaline. 

After that, he decided to abandon the business district for a while and head for the residential areas and the cemeteries. The cemeteries were, ironically, completely dead. Perhaps because the residents were all out at the time. The residential areas were only lightly populated with demons, but that was exactly what he needed. Single demons and small groups fell under his nearly silent onslaught. 

He wasn't able to leap from roof to roof like he could downtown so he stayed low to the ground using what cover was available.

He dusted two vamps before he found what he was looking for that night. A well dressed vamp traveling all alone. The irony of someone hunting vampires who traveled alone at night was not lost on him. He switched to a left-handed grip and pulled one of his aluminum arrows from his left-hand quiver. He fired into the vampire's head just like he had done for Spike. The vampire went down in a quivering pile, much the same way that the blond one had done. 

Xander holstered his bow and pulled a stake instead before going to inspect his kill. He took the nice leather jacket and some jewelry the thing had been wearing before he also searched his pockets. He came up short in the cash department with only a $20 and some change. But hopefully he could fence the rest of the stuff for some more.

He stepped back and loaded up a wooden arrow. He aimed for the heart but changed his mind at the last second and shot a wooden arrow into the vampire's head. The thing disappeared with a satisfying Poof. That was one answer he'd been looking for. Wood to the brain killed vamps too. He'd figured as much, otherwise decapitation as a way to kill them didn't make much sense, but it was good to know for sure.

Xander retrieved his aluminum arrow and noted that shooting it into the skulls of vampires at close range had bent the shaft. He wondered if those ridges on vampires’ foreheads were actually thicker pieces of bone. That would explain why no book mentioned staking vampires in the head. Getting something to penetrate a normal skull was hard enough. An extra thick skull would be extra hard to break.

Anyway, it was time to keep hunting. He pocketed the money and jewelry but didn't want to wear the coat around. He found a convenient bush to stash it under and hoped no one would steal it. That would just be extra ironic.

* * *

The problem with Slayer hunting methods was that the dusting process took any clothing and paper money with them, though Buffy said she did sometimes get some jewelry. But two of the vamps he'd taken last night had had over $2,000 in cash on them, each. The weird thing was that it wasn't the richly dressed ones like he'd thought it would be. It was two vamps that looked like they could have been homeless before getting turned.

He came home with a couple nice leather coats plus a bunch of jewelry he'd collected and almost $5,000 in cash total. 

After a refreshing morning of sleep, Xander showed up after school and returned Buffy's backpack.

“Ugh, I can't believe how much I missed this thing,” Buffy said as she transferred her books back into it. She tried it on and frowned. She adjusted the straps so the bag rode higher on her back. “There. That's better. The way it was before, your spear was digging into my butt.”

Xander bravely ignored the straight line that had been given to him while Giles dropped the glasses he had been polishing.

“You okay, Giles?” Buffy frowned.

“Yes, yes, quite alright. Um... I have some things to discuss with Xander right now. If you'd like to stop back before you head out for patrol, that would be wonderful.”

“You got it,” Buffy said as she turned and bounced out the door.

Once she was gone, both men relaxed. “I hope you realize how much effort it took to not take bait like that,” Xander said.

“I do,” Giles got up and limped over to put some books away. “I was under the impression that you realized what Buffy might do to you should you have made such a comment.”

“Yes. But it wouldn't have stopped me,” Xander smiled. “How's the ankle?”

Giles smiled. “Healing apace, thank you for asking. How was your hunt?”

Xander pulled two leather jackets from his bag and unfolded them to reveal the stash of jewelry he had collected over the course of the night.

“Good Lord,” Giles breathed. “You certainly had a busy night.”

Xander sat down and took out a notebook. “I think the demons understand the concept of 'school night' perfectly well. Come 2 o'clock, the town was demon central. The more human looking ones were out in the open, the less human ones still stuck to the shadows but...” he sighed. “I counted at least 200 demons and vampires in the downtown area alone. I got a few of the ones in the shadows but needed to keep out of sight.”

“No, no. You did the right thing, Xander. That was far more demons than I had thought. How many did you say were vampires?” Giles wondered.

“Hard to tell from a distance, but if everything that looked fully human was a vamp, then say 80 to 90%.” Xander answered. “I did a quick sweep of the cemeteries and found nothing. Residential areas were almost entirely vamps.

“Oh dear. How many did you get?” Giles wiped his face.

“Five vamps and four assorted demons downtown plus 18 vamps and a pink demon in the residential areas.” Xander slid the notebook to Giles. It held the number and types of demons he had killed along with descriptions of the ones he didn't know yet so he could look them up later.

Giles licked his lips. “My. That is impressive. I- I don't mean to dissuade you, but numbers such as this every night... I'm not sure if the demon population will notice or not.”

“Consider me un-dissuaded,” Xander flashed a quirky grin. “I'm kinda hoping that there's some sort of Sunnydale Effect on the demons too that will keep them from noticing. But it's not going to stop me even if there isn't.”

“I was afraid of that,” the watcher admitted.

“Well, now that we're done with the pleasantries, we can move on to business.” Xander said. “Buffy said you fence some of the jewelry she collects for spending money?”

Giles scratched his temple. “Yes. Well this is quite a bit more than Buffy usually brings me, though I'm sure she keeps many of the female pieces for herself. If this is going to be a common take for you, I may have to find a new fence. I will probably have to send it down to L.A and it may take some time before I can get you any money. I hope you understand.”

“That's fine,” Xander nodded. He was no longer hurting for spending cash. “What's your percentage?”

Giles was caught a little off guard, though he didn't know why. Every iteration of Oliver Queen was at least a competent, and many times brilliant, businessman. Giles hadn't been especially aware of that business sense until now. “Well, a have a friend who gives me a discount and takes only 15%. And I take an additional 5% myself. If we have to go to L.A., the percentage that the fence takes could be 20% or more.”

“Plus your 5%,” Xander finished.

Giles nodded.

“5% is acceptable. Now for the other business I wanted to discuss,” Xander agreed. “I had a lady come into the shop and wanted to buy a stake.”

“Oh no. You turned her away, I hope.” Giles took off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose where he felt a tension headache forming.

“I had stakes and spears lining the walls. Couldn't really tell her we were out,” Xander defended. “So I sold her one for $10. That was the price I was going to charge the council.”

“Well, what's done is done-” Giles began.

“I was talking to the owner of the hardware store and he said there are hundreds of people who are aware of the supernatural. So, I wanted to make sure that we had an agreed upon price for using watcher materials in case anyone else needed a weapon. The materials for a stake came to about $0.85 and 5% of $10 would be $0.50. I'll round the $0.85 up for using council tools and make it $1.50, even. Does that sound fair?” Xander laid the money on the table between them.

Giles grimaced. He was holding thousands of dollars worth of jewelry in his hands and they were quibbling over $1.50. “Yes, yes, yes. That's fine. Honestly, except for the fact that you're selling to civilians, I'm not sure the council would care if you were selling stakes they'd paid for – even if they knew.”

* * *

Now that he had some good arrows and Buffy was better armed, he could start work on his next two projects. A reflexed bow and better hunting clothing. The bow would take time to dry and that couldn't be hurried so he started that first. He cut a similar width and shape to the last bow.

He then scraped wood off the bow until it felt like it was at a slightly heavier pull than his last one. The finishing process would add a couple of pounds to the draw too so no need to make it too heavy. Once he had the bow to the point where he strung it last time, he instead strung the bow the reverse of how it would shoot.

Then he applied glue and strips of animal sinew; in this case, elk. The sinew would 'remember' this backward bend as its natural position and would add force (cast) to every shot trying to get back to this position. It would also help prevent the bow from taking a set.

He left the glue to dry and went to work on some hunting clothes. Winter nights in the California deserts got uncomfortably cold. And since the council was paying for materials, he made himself a pair of brown leather pants and a vest to go over a long-sleeved shirt. The pants were also designed to go over his normal jeans to provide an extra layer of warmth/protection.

* * *

After hunting that night he roughed up the glue he'd applied that afternoon and applied another layer of glue and sinew. The roughing was to make the first layer slightly tacky and give the second layer more places to grip. He decided to sleep in the room above the shop that day. It was empty, save a hammock he'd bought and the stand he'd made for it. Setting his spear next to him, he hugged his unstrung bow and fell asleep.

* * *

The bow wasn't done drying yet but it was dry enough that he could apply a waterproof stain to the belly. Even though the glue he used was water-proof, that really only translated to water-resistant. So the waterproofing stain was required to help keep moisture from reaching the glue through the bow.

After that, he carved a proper – though ambidextrous – handle for this one.

* * *

Xander was very successful his next few hunting trips. He now had a separate bank account set up in the name of a corporation with over $30,000 in it and more coming once he got the money from the jewelry fencing.

Perhaps he was too successful. By Thursday demons were traveling in larger groups and looking over their shoulders. What was more, they all seemed to be heading in the same direction. Xander followed them to their destination. Only mildly surprised that it was city hall. He circled around the building and climbed to the roof. Two vampire guards were easily dispatched. He looked through the skylight to see the mayor standing in front of a room full of demons. That one threw him a bit. He had been expecting some sort of demonic, 'after hours' mayor. Not the same one that the humans had.

A tingling at the back of his neck warned him that he was being watched. He somersaulted forward and came up facing the other way with an arrow drawn on his attacker. Except that his attacker wasn't attacking. She just stood there, hands up.

“Peace, hunter. I mean you no harm. I was only curious where all da demons were going,” she said.

He lowed his bow and released the tension. “Me too. Open the skylight. Let's see if we can hear anything.”

She nodded. “I am Kendra,” she said before she went to open the window.

“I'm Xander,” he replied.

* * *

“Welcome, everyone,” the Mayor said from behind his podium. “Now, I know we're all here for the same reason. There have been a worrying number of disappearances from our little community these past few weeks. Now, my advisors and I have been looking at the problem and we are agreed that the problem is us.”

After a few cries of outrage were quelled, he went on. “We've become too complacent. Knowing when the Slayer went to bed each night made us less watchful and have allowed her to thin our ranks to a worrying degree since she broke her routine.”

Xander heard the girl next to him whisper “Slayer?”

“That ain't it at all,” a purple demon with a bit of a southern accent stood up. “I had a buddy watch the Slayer's house last night until she went to sleep. And he _still_ disappeared that night.” He shook his head. “Naw. It's that damned Robin Hood what Drusilla was going on about before she died. Any y'all notice that this all started not long after she died? Y'all think that was a coincidence?” 

The Mayor held up his hands for quiet. “Whether the problem is the Slayer or some mythical archer,”

Kendra shot a look at the hunter she was next to and the bow he was carrying.

“...the solution is the same. We need to be more vigilant and not forget that humans can be very dangerous prey indeed. There's a good reason we're meeting at night, after most humans are asleep. Humans are easily killed, and _tasty_ too. … but crafty,” he warned. “You have to remember not to underestimate them. Just because most of them are weak and complacent, they can still be dangerous when they learn the truth. Which is why we've taken such extreme measures to hide the truth from them in the past. Now, here's what I propose...”

* * *

“So, are you dis Robin Hood dey speak of?” Kendra asked as they walked.

“Probably. It's not my real name, obviously. Just a nickname that kinda stuck,” Xander was wearing brown leathers instead of the greens favored by Robin Hood or Oliver. “What about you? I've never seen you around here before.”

“I just arrived, sir. Me watcher sent me here because der is a dark power prophesied to rise here soon,” Kendra told him.

“Watcher? As in Vampire Slayer Watcher?” Xander asked a little surprised. “Are you an apprentice watcher too?”

“No. I am dee Vampire Slayer,” she stated.

“Funny one. I just saw the Slayer this afternoon. So, unless you were called today, then I doubt it,” Xander shook his head even as a pang of doubt shot through his mind.

“No, I was called over five months ago. So you could not have seen another Slayer today. Whoever she is, she is an imposter,” Kendra insisted.

Xander counted back. “Late May?” When she nodded, Xander let out a huge sigh and felt a load of tension he hadn't realized he'd been holding. “Whew. Had me worried there. One dies and another one is called.” He quoted. “Buffy died in May. But we revived her with CPR. So, I guess there's two Slayers for now. Weird. Well, let's get you to Giles – that's her watcher. He'll set you up with a place to stay for the night.”

“Should we not patrol the rest of the night?” she asked.

Xander shook his head. “You heard the Mayor. Evil's going to lay low until the Ascension. Whatever that is. Besides, you'll need sleep if you want to be at the top of your game tomorrow. We'll need to figure out what this Ascension thing is since I'm guessing that's what you were sent here to stop.”

As they walked down the sidewalk; a huge, hulking figure tackled Xander to the ground and started strangling him. Kendra kicked the man in the head and then the gut, throwing him off Xander. Xander coughed and heaved in a huge lungful of air. Stars danced in front of his eyes and the world spun around him. He was pretty sure he was going to be sick. After a few breaths he turned his head to see if the new Slayer had dealt with the demon yet.

It wasn't a demon. Or it was a demon that looked very human. It was certainly too strong to be human as his neck and now Kendra could attest. The 'man' was also short one eye and had a nasty scar going down his face. One eye or not, he was certainly delivering a beating to the Slayer. Xander felt around for his bow and reached back for an arrow. His arrows had fallen out of the quiver and were scattered on the ground. He cut his hand on the razor-sharp broadheads before he was able to grab a shaft.

Shooting an arrow is not something that is done with the arms. Properly done; the legs, torso, shoulders and arms are all involved. Except when you are lying on your back and can barely breathe because you were just choked almost to death. Xander's head swam with the effort required to pull the bow with only his arms and shoulders. He'd only get one shot at this and he couldn't hold this long so it better come fast.

The man knocked the Slayer down again and Xander let go. He didn't properly 'loose' the arrow with proper form as he should have and it affected his aim. But even with his aim off, at this distance it was a deadly shot. He hit the man in the side and the arrow went through both lungs, the man would not have long to live.

Just long enough to pull the arrow out and charge at Xander with it.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10. 

Kendra had failed. She hadn't even known there were such things as apprentice watchers this morning, but then it wasn't her place to know such things. It was her place to protect him and she'd failed. That the one-eyed man was preternaturally strong and stronger than any vampire she had ever faced was no excuse. She couldn't move any more, every part of her body ached from the beating she'd just taken. She'd die, and then he would die, and a new Slayer would take her place. She closed her eyes and waited. 

A meaty 'thwack' sounded in her ears and the one eyed man then stood with an arrow sticking out of his side. She turned to the almost watcher. One of his eyes was swollen shut and she could hear the raspiness of his breathing. His hand was bleeding badly and yet he had managed to kill this monster. She could tell from where the arrow stuck out that the wound would be fatal. 

The monster seemed to realize this too. As he abandoned her, he pulled out the arrow and staggered towards the downed and helpless watcher – hoping to take the man who'd killed him to the underworld with him.

Kendra was not about to let that happen, she was the Vampire Slayer. She kipped up and dove for the monster, tackling him by his feet.

She watched as the arrowhead skittered to a stop just inches from the watcher's wide eye.

* * *

She had stopped the one eyed man from killing the watcher. She searched his body for clues as to why they were attacked. Her heart stopped when she came across the ring of Taraka. This boy had angered some very rich people. She had read about them in the writings of Dramius. If she remembered correctly, they never sent only one assassin and a 'full-contract' would stay in effect until the target was killed. She very much hoped it was not a contract of that type.

She pushed the assassin's body into the sewers then collected Xander's arrows for him. Xander was sitting against a tree, wrapping his injured hand with a piece of his undershirt. She handed him his refilled quivers. He gave her his unbroken spear, the other had been broken in the fall.

“You should get that treated properly,” she told him.

“Giles,” he croaked in a raspy voice. “First aid.”

She helped him to his feet. Except for his head and hand he was in pretty good physical shape. Kendra was in far worse shape, she hurt all over, but she'd heal faster than he would. She followed him to the senior watcher's house. It did not escape her notice that he carried his bow in his injured right hand and with an arrow nocked.

Because of the injury to Xander's throat she had to explain to the groggy watcher that, yes, she was a Slayer; that his Slayer was probably fine; she had been called in May. The same look of recognition passed across his face and Xander nodded to add his quiet input.

“Oh good lord,” Giles rubbed his eyes. “I need some tea.” _Or perhaps something stronger...? but no. Not in front of the youngsters._ Once the tea was on, he set about cleaning their wounds. Xander's first as his were more likely to get infected. “No archery for at least a week with this wound.”

Xander mimed shooting with his left hand.

“I'll take a look at it in two days. If you can talk by then, we'll discuss it. Promise me you won't try anything until we talk. You could cripple yourself if you push this.

Xander nodded his grudging agreement.

The tea kettle whistled. Giles went to fetch it and returned with a tray. “I know you don't normally drink tea, Xander, but tea with honey is supposed to be very soothing for the throat.”

Then he examined Kendra's injuries. He took her into the bathroom to examine injuries to her chest.

Kendra was a bit confused. “I do not understand. Mr. Zabuto has examined me many times. Xander is a watcher, is he not?”

“Almost. But he's also a 16 year old boy,” Giles told her

“Oh,” Kendra was shocked that he was no older than her and already a hunter. A hunter so good that someone had hired the Order of Taraka to kill him.

“Yes, well. Were it a life or death situation, I'm sure he'd wait until it was over to be... er, distracted. But he still would be. It's simply the nature of young men.” Giles applied the last bandage to a cut under her arm and the side of her breast where the assassin's boot had caught her and broken the skin. “All done. I'll leave you alone to dress.”

Kendra blushed at the idea of Xander thinking about her that way. “You have done dis for your Slayer, yes?” she asked before he could leave.

He sighed. “Too many times,” he said and gave her a wan smile.

* * *

She came back to the living room to find Mr. Giles covering Xander with a blanket.

“Quite tuckered out, I'm afraid,” he whispered. “There's a room upstairs you can use for tonight. We can sit there and you can tell me about what you learned from the Mayor.”

* * *

Giles listened while Kendra told him about the Mayors short term plans for Sunnydale. The denizens were to go into hiding while the Mayor brought food in for them. To await this day of Ascension. Such an innocuous word to cause so much dread. 

Then she described the fight between them and the assassin. Giles felt the colour drain from his face when she handed him the ring.

“I am certain dat Mr. Xander was the target. Dee assassin ignored me until I engaged and showed meself to be da Slayer. I doubt he would have attacked Mr. Xander if he had known I was dee Slayer,” Kendra explained.

“No, especially considering that you defeated him. That's quite a feat,” Giles allowed.

Kendra bowed her head, “Dat is because I did not defeat him. Xander shot and killed him. I was already defeated at the time.”

Giles lifted her chin. “That man was a monster. That it took both of you to defeat him is no shame. I can tell from the marks on Xander's neck that he was very close to death when you intervened. That he had the strength to fire an arrow with his hand so damaged speaks only to his fortitude and not to any weakness on your part.”

“I was defeated in single combat,” Kendra said flatly.

“You have been training for years and have Slayer strength to boot,” Giles countered. “If you were defeated, then I dare say he had an unfair advantage over you.”

Kendra gave him a weak smile.

Giles gave her a hug.

Kendra stiffened at this unaccustomed display of affection, but soon found herself relaxing into his arms.

“There, there now. Off to bed with you. Morning will come far too early, I'm afraid.”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11.

As Scooby meetings went, this one was a real bummer. First Giles informed him that he was practically a dead man with a host of unstoppable assassins after him. Then Buffy looked at him like someone had just killed her puppy. To top it off, just when he could have used a good Willow-hug, his Willow-support ran away; and Buffy ran after her. And then the police came to take Giles away to identify a body found on campus, leaving him and Kendra uncomfortably alone in the library. All he needed then was for Cordelia to walk through the doors and he might just kill himself on general principle.

And speak of the devil...

“Xander, where's Giles?” the devil herself asked.

“Out,” Xander whispered. He didn't elaborate as it still hurt to talk.

“Well, I need this computer book. There are books on computers? I mean, Isn't the point of computers to replace books?” Cordy whined.

Xander waved at the stacks.

“What? I'm supposed to get it myself?” 

Xander was fed up. He and Kendra were trying to research the unstoppable assassins trying to kill him and he simply didn't have time to waste on Cordelia's nonsense. He stalked over to her, snatched the paper from her hand, read it, found the book in under a minute, and shoved said book into her chest. “Goodbye.” he whispered as firmly as possible.

“Sheesh. Fine. Thanks for your help,” she called sarcastically as she walked away.

“Who was dat?” Kendra asked as he sat back down. She kept her eyes on her book. 

“No one.” He wasn't up to explaining the complexity of Cordelia Chase and besides, he was in a bad mood. Also, he was more than a little confused that Kendra had only said five words to him all day, including those last three.

Kendra let the matter drop.

A few minutes later the doors opened again. Buffy and Willow came in holding hands. Willow's eyes were red and puffy from crying. Even Buffy's might have been a little pink. 

“I'm sorry, Xander,” Willow began in a high-pitched squeak. “I shouldn't have (hic) run out on you like that.” Her eyes were getting watery again.

Xander was pretty sure that crying was cheating, but he certainly couldn't concentrate on being angry when Willow was so upset. He stood and gave her a big hug. He could feel the sobs racking her body even if she didn't make a sound. “Shhhh. It's going to be alright.” He whispered as he stroked her hair with his uninjured hand.

“But there's assassins and the mayor is after you and you're my best friend and I don't know what I'd do if I lost you and I'm sorry that I'm crying on you because you're the one who should be upset not me and you can barely even talk,” Willow babbled, her pitch going higher and higher until only dogs could hear what she was saying.

It made Xander smile in a weird way. Willow's babble was so fast and high pitched that it reminded him of nothing so much as Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. They stood together in the library for several minutes while Willow cried herself out.

Once they had separated, Buffy ahemed. “Will, we should probably get to class. We'll be back for study periods and after school,” she promised. 

“You go, Buffy. I'm staying,” Willow insisted.

“Well, if you're staying, I'm staying too,” Buffy didn't want to look like she was abandoning her friend.

“You can't stay,” Xander croaked at the Slayer “Snyder will expel you. Willow can get away with it.” That was as few words as he could use to explain it.

“Fine, use logic against me,” Buffy looked around. “Where's Giles?”

“Dead body had Giles' name on paper. Police took to identify,” Xander explained.

“You have got to be kidding me. What else-”

Xander slapped a hand over Buffy's mouth. He found a little extra power in his voice though it was still scratchy, “Don't say it. Don't even think it. I thought it and the next thing that happened was a visit from Cordelia. Yeah. So don't jinx us any more, please,” he was whispering again by the end.

Buffy smirked as he removed his hand. It was good that he was joking just a little again. This Order of Taraka had freaked him pretty good. “Alright Xand. I will go to class and try to think happy thoughts all day. You rest your voice,” she told him before she left.

* * *

Giles drove back to school in a daze. This really couldn't have come at a worse time. They already had the Order of Taraka to deal with nevermind that the Mayor of Sunnydale was in league with the demons. And now his former friend Phillip showed up on his doorstep, dead. They hadn't spoken since they'd exorcised Eyghon all those years ago. He should have known something was up when he had that dream of the demon last night. He couldn't be certain but it was looking like Eyghon had returned. _It's impolite to think ill of the dead, but **damn** that Philip for bringing this right to my doorstep._ He gave his steering wheel a hard smack.

As he pulled back into the school car park he pulled out his organizer and looked at the day's plans. _Well, the blood delivery would just have to go without protection. There were far more important things to focus on._ He crossed it off his list.

Giles limped into the library to find Xander, Kendra, and even Willow hard at research. “How fares the research?” 

“Great! Kendra found this book with a huge section just on the Order. Xander and I have been looking through it and we found the guy who attacked him.” Willow was far too happy about that fact. “The guy was known for incredible strength and his M.O. was strangulation.”

Xander rubbed his throat. That much was certainly true.

“We've all been been going through the whole list of known assassins. I made a spreadsheet with names, powers, M.O.s, and known weaknesses to see if we could find any patterns.” Willow waved to the monitor.

“I see. Well, that's very... um, resourceful of you,” Giles allowed.

Willow beamed at the compliment.

“Have you found anything yet?” Giles hung up his coat.

Willow nodded somberly. “Well, it's not done yet, but the most common M.O. is... eating.” She made a face. “Knives and strangulation rank second and third. After that there's not much that stands out. Poisoning, but only if you include all types, including blowguns. And Kendra added some stuff that she knows from other books. Like the fact that all their contracts are for at least two assassins but some of them are 'until the job is done'. Also that they hand out assignments based on who's turn it is. So we can say that there's a 70% chance that the next assassin will be either a monster trying to eat him, a knife user, or another strangler. And now that we know that, we can be more prepared!” Willow tried to end on a positive note. “Plus, Xander's good with the ranged attacks. So if he sees them coming, he's got an advantage.”

“Speaking of ranged attacks, how's your hand?” the watcher inquired. 

“Itches,” he grunted.

“Well, that's good. It means that it's healing. Try not to pick at it. Now, about living arrangements. I'm working on finding out who ordered the- the... the hit – on you. Knowing that will tell us what sort of information they have on you. For instance, it seems unlikely based on what you told me, but if the Mayor or a demon has ordered... it. Then they might only know you as a hunter of demons. Which would mean no patrolling until it's done but you could lead the rest of your life normally.” Giles paused. “Until we know for sure however, you shouldn't visit anyplace you've been in the last few weeks. That means home, school, and the shop. Plus any place else you've frequented.

“The most likely suspect at this point would be Drusilla. Which is good because she didn't seem to know your real name. However, Angel indicated that she might be psychic as well as psychotic, though we don't know what sort of information she might get from any visions. We also don't know if she has any other contacts. I'll have Angel start looking into her whereabouts tonight,” Giles finished.

“Excuse me. Dis Angel you speak of. Is dis Angelus?” Kendra spoke up. “I have read about him. He's a monster.”

“He's not a monster! He's good now.” Willow was the first to jump to his defense. 

The men in the room shifted uncomfortably. “Well he's certainly been a useful ally at times,” Giles allowed.

Xander finished scribbling a note and handed it to Kendra who read it out loud. “I wouldn't invite him into my house but I'd feel safer with him guarding outside.”

“He's been helping us fight evil in one fashion or another for more than a year now,” Giles enlightened her. “I admit I had fears about a vampire and a vampire Slayer fighting together, but it seems he was the victim of a curse to put his human soul back in his body. So at this point, we all trust him... some more than others. But you can take our word that he's on our side.”

Kendra didn't look like she was convinced but decided not to press the issue. 

“Xander, if I could see you a for a bit in my office?”

Xander followed the watcher into the office and closed the door behind him. Giles busied himself with the electric kettle and Xander waited patiently for him to finish.

“The watchers council has never been very large. At their height, they had just over 1,000 families spread throughout the world. At the time, it was necessary. Travel and even communication across the world could take months. It was imperative to have watchers ready wherever a Slayer might appear. Even so, there are gaps in the council records where we simply do not know who or where the Slayer was. 

“At the turn of the century, the telephone and the railroad were revolutionizing communications and travel. And such large numbers were no longer necessary to support a single warrior.” Giles looked off into the distance. “By the end of the second World War, there were only 121 families left. Whether they were killed in the wars or forced out due to suspected disloyalty. We never had many German watchers but we did have a large contingent in Italy.

“What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room. Agreed?” Giles waited for Xander's nod before continuing. “When I was young, I did not wish to be a watcher. I rebelled. I found some dark magics and began experimenting with them. One of those things was a possession demon called 'Eyghon'. A group of us would summon him for an incredible high. I thought it was gone but it may be back and in Sunnydale right now.

“I'm telling you all this for several reasons. One, because you are the first person – not born of a watcher family – to receive any watcher training since the 1850s. I want you to understand that you might never be fully accepted by them and to make sure you have alternate plans in case they do not take to you. This apprenticeship is in no way a guarantee of any future employment. And even if they do, all but the most senior watchers have a regular job as well because the stipend the rest get isn't enough to live on. Second, I wish to warn you away from experimenting in any black magics. By the luck of the draw, you received some rather useful gifts from your brush with magic. But there are always consequences.”

Xander gripped the knife and lighter he always kept in his pocket and mentally recalled where every weapon in the library was. _Yes there were._

“And third, I do not wish you to think that I am ignoring the danger to you that the Order of Taraka poses. However, Eyghon is not something that a Slayer can fight. In fact, I would rather both Slayers stayed far away from this. There's no telling what it could do in possession of a Slayer's body. But with two Slayers and Angel to guard you for now...” Giles sighed. “Well, you're as well guarded as you could possibly be. I- I need to take care of Eyghon myself.”

“You should tell Willow,” Xander whispered. Giles began to protest but Xander held up his hand. “She’s our best researcher. Besides, once she finds out I'm training to be a watcher, she'll probably want in. Now's a good time to give her that warning – with examples. But if you don't want to tell the slayers, I'll back you on that.”

Giles considered Xander's words for a minute. It obviously still hurt for the man to talk, but he had made the effort to make a point. That being, that if Willow's research abilities were less than his own it was only because he had much more experience in this area. But she was quickly catching up. In fact, she would probably surpass him soon enough. She also had a fresh perspective and could sometimes see things he could not. He nodded. “Send her in.” Once she was seated, he began his speech again. “The watchers council has never been very large...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Do not own Addams Family


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

Giles was ashamed that he'd ever considered not telling Willow about Eyghon. And that he hadn't offered her the same position he'd offered Xander. With her research abilities, she would be twice the watcher he and Xander ever would be... combined.

By the time that Buffy finished class they had a plan to use Angel to attack whatever person the demon was possessing and try to make it jump to the vampire. In theory, it sounded like a wonderful plan – assuming the demon attacked at night or they could get it to the sewers. But it was a plan and a good one, Giles admitted. It afforded him a measure of peace which allowed him to turn his full attentions to Xander's predicament. He promised himself that he would make her an apprentice watcher as well, just as soon as they had time to breathe. 

“Ah, Buffy. Glad you're here,” Giles said. “We've got another situation that we need some help with.”

“Another? Besides the Mayor and assassins?” Buffy asked.

“Yes, well they say that bad news comes in threes so hopefully this is the last for a while. And this is the smallest threat.”

“Great, I get the smallest threat.” Buffy groused. 

“Well, no. We still need your help with Xander's assassins. But it's likely that Angel's... unique talents would be helpful in dealing with this new threat. He's actually better equipped to deal with this than any Slayer. If you could get a message to him to stop by after sundown?” Giles corrected.

“Oh! Sure. You still want me to cover that blood delivery thingy, tonight?” Buffy went on.

“That's not a priority at the moment. You can pass by there on your way and perhaps you'll get lucky but don't dawdle,” Giles requested.

“Gotcha. No dawdling for Buffy,” Buffy gave him a smile and a thumbs up.

“Thank you. And do remind him to keep searching for clues as to Drusilla's whereabouts.”

* * *

As the meeting wrapped up Buffy left to give Angel the message and introduce Kendra to the souled vampire so there wouldn't be any accidents.

Willow wandered over to Xander's bow and tested the draw. She wasn't really surprised that she couldn't pull it; even if he said this was a light, training-bow for him. She wasn't as physically strong as Xander, much less Buffy. She'd been thinking about how she could contribute to the group besides just being research-girl for a while now. She'd been considering asking Miss Calendar to teach her some magic so that she'd at least have something. But after Giles' speech about the dangers of magic, she wasn't sure if she wanted to do that.

She set the bow down and looked over all the weapons in the weapons cage. Stakes, swords, axes, and the new spears all took years of training and more strength than she currently had. And she was trying really hard. But the only things she could use were holy water and crossbows. The problem was that crossbows took so long to reload that they were effectively one-shot weapons for her. And she wasn't nearly as accurate with a crossbow as Xander now was with his bow. Even if she could figure out a way to quickly reload a crossbow she could only hit center-mass regularly. She'd need another way to kill vampires if she wanted to help.

“Mr. Giles. Do you think I could take a crossbow home with me?” she asked.

“Hmm? Oh, yes. I suppose. Do be careful, though,” the distracted watcher answered.

Willow had already done all that she could here. There were no more books on the assassins. All that was left was action. And for Xander, she could be Action-Girl.

* * *

Kendra and Buffy were talking to each other about vampires, training, and strategy as they walked. When the conversation turned to Xander, even under the darker skin, Buffy could see the other Slayer blush. _Oh, gosh did she have it bad. And for... Xander?_ she thought. _Then again, these supernatural assassins were after him and not her. She wasn't sure if she felt relieved or annoyed that she wasn't the underworld's number one scourge anymore. And then she felt guilty for being relieved that Xander had to deal with this because of her._

_This was her calling. Or hers and Kendra's. But mostly hers. And in only a matter of weeks, Xander had usurped her. Or had he? Most of his kills had come after she had been asleep. A fact that Kendra had pointed out several times. The Jamaican Slayer had a bit of a superiority complex. Just because she was council raised from birth and had read and trained before being called. That didn't make her better than her. Did it?_

And her mind went back to the fact that Kendra was clearly attracted to Xander. Xander had had a puppy dog crush on Buffy since the day she moved to Sunnydale. She wasn't interested, but she didn't mind as long as it stayed a crush, it was a nice boost to the ego. She would have pushed him Willow's way a long time ago though, if she hadn't seen that he treated her like a sister. There would never be romance there. Only hurt and confusion. 

She just had to find out what Kendra was to Xander. The friend-zone would be hard to break out of but it was possible. The coworker-zone was relatively easy to turn into dating and love. But first, she'd have to get Kendra to say more than two words to Xander.

“Do you not like Xander or something?” She asked, feigning innocence. Kendra was not big on the subtle.

“What? No. He saved me life,” Kendra blushed again.

“Then why won't you look at him? Or say more than two words to him?” Buffy queried with an inner smile.

“I'm sorry. I didn't tink- I mean... I didn't know he was a boy,” she lowered her head.

“You thought he was a girl?” Buffy decided to keep that little tidbit to herself. Xander not being manly enough had started this whole problem back on Halloween.

“No. I t'ought he was a hunter. And den I t'ought he was a watcher. I- am not permitted to speak to boys,” Kendra explained.

“Well, don't think of him as a boy then, think of him as a coworker,” Buffy instructed.

“Is dat what you do?” Kendra asked.

“More or less.” _Actually, she mostly thought of him as a goofball._ With these assassins after him, she might have to rethink her own opinion of him. “We're here.” Buffy knocked on Angel's door. The sun was already down.

“Buffy? Who's this?” Angel answered the door. 

“Angel, Kendra. Kendra, Angel. Angel is a vampire with a soul. Kendra is a new Vampire Slayer. I figured you two should meet so you don't... you know. Try to kill each other.”

Neither one moved to try to shake hands. After a short staring contest, Kendra spoke. “What happened to your ear?”

Angel's hand moved to the deformed appendage. It had healed over, but nothing was regrowing. Buffy winced. “Xander shot him.”

News like that catapulted Kendra's admiration of the junior watcher to new heights. But she maintained her composure and let only a small smile show. “Too bad he missed.”

“Oh-kay. Nice seeing you Angel. Thanks, bye.” She shut the door then opened it right back up again. “Oh yeah, Giles needs your help with something, so if you could stop by the library tonight? Thanks.” She shut the door again.

Once they were away from Angel's apartment she asked, “What was that about?”

“He is a _Vampire._ We are Vampire Slayers,” Kendra replied calmly. “I am not going to stake him since you say he helps. But dat does not mean he and I will be friends.”

Buffy shook her head and hesitated only a second before adding, “Sounds like Xander's opinion of him too.”

Kendra brightened considerably at that thought.

* * *

Xander used the computer with only his left hand. He had to type with only his left hand and then reach across the keyboard to use the mouse left-handed as well. Eventually, he found what he was looking for.

“Giles. I need you to order this for me,” he stage-whispered to the watcher.

Giles stopped polishing his glasses and came over to the infernal machine. “A pistol crossbow? Xander, that's over a thousand dollars. I don't have that kind of money lying around. And the money from your... hunts won't be in for a few day yet, at least.”

Xander cut in before the watcher could go on, “I have the money. And so do you. I made you treasurer of my corporation. Did i tell you that yet?”

“No.”

“Okay, well you're the treasurer of the 'do-my' corporation,” Xander informed him. “Here's your card.”

Giles read for a second. “You made me treasurer of the Dummy Corporation?” he asked in exasperation when he'd read the card.

“It's pronounced 'do-my'. It's french. And it fits what Ollie remembers of those frog eating surrender monkeys.”

“Frog eating surrender monkeys?” Giles breathed. He had the sudden urge to hit his head on his desk repeatedly. Though he did eventually assist Xander in procuring his new weapon. He called in to the company and gave them the information on the company credit card Xander handed him. It was clear that Xander was not joking about feeling a bit unarmed with only one... arm/hand. Paying far too much (in his opinion) for rush delivery would get the weapon to them tomorrow afternoon.

* * *

Xander and Kendra ended up staying at Giles' apartment despite the cramped quarters. It made the most sense despite the fact that he came there right after the first attack. The Tarakan assassins were not known for their cooperation and it was likely that if there had been another assassin watching, they would have attacked that night. 

Even so, he had a rotating set of supernatural guards. Kendra during the day – they would study together and sometimes do some katas as well. Xander's hand wasn't up to actual sparring yet, though as his voice got better, it seemed that Kendra's did too, which was weird. _Maybe she had some weird sympathetic injury thing. Or maybe she just swore not to talk while I couldn't?_ Xander dismissed the idea. But it was good that she was talking again. They were becoming good friends.

After school, Buffy would Xandersit while Kendra slept. Willow brought over a video game console for them to play (on low volume) and since Xander was still able to use his thumb, he didn't do half bad. The weird thing was that Buffy mostly wanted to talk about Kendra. In fact, Xander was starting to get the idea that Buffy might have a crush on her fellow Slayer. That brought some wonderful images to mind. But unfortunately, the palm of his right hand was still very sore and he could get no relief. _Buffy was evil,_ he decided.

After sunset, Buffy left to patrol and Angel came by. Giles had decided that Angel not being invited in posed the greatest danger and overruled Kendra and Xander. That first night, in full view of Angel, he and Kendra had spent a few hours researching a de-invitation spell. Once they found it, it seemed pretty simple. They even got to test it the next morning. That Angel had to be re-invited in (by Giles) seemed to indicate it had worked. Xander earned a left-handed high-five from Kendra for that.

But late at night, he and Angel both sometimes got bored and played some video games while Kendra was out patrolling.

* * *

That morning, Philip attacked Ethan and Rupert in the Library. Giles pinned their friend to the wall with a spear, tied up Ethan, and called Angel, who now had a telephone. (or he finally shared his number with Giles) It took Angel a while to navigate the crowded sewers and make his way to the shadowy corner where the demon was pinned. A few blows and the monster gave up, dissolving into a puddle of goo. Eyghon invaded Angel and was quickly expelled. 

“You didn't mention that it was going to hurt,” Angel breathed heavily.

“Sorry, we didn’t know. I wasn't even sure it would work.” Giles lowered the crossbow he'd kept on Angel and put away the ax he'd taken out.

“Glad to see you were prepared if it didn't,” Angel observed.

“Yes. I believe that's the Boy Scout motto, isn't it Rupert? That and something about being good with knots,” Ethan worried at his bonds from the chair he was tied to.

“What shall I do with you? You've made life very difficult for me as well as for one of my students.” Giles noted.

“Oh dear. It sounds like a _spanking_ is in order,” Ethan smirked.

“Maybe I should go. This is the second time this week people have been talking about spanking in front of me. It's just getting a little weird,” Angel started heading for the back exit. 

“Yes, yes. Thank you, Angel,” Giles waved him off. This would be easier without any witnesses.

“Hey, Giles! Have you seen- You!” Buffy recognized the tied up man. She stalked over to him and punched him in the face. 

“Was there something you wanted, Buffy?” Giles asked calmly.

“Um... I don't remember,” she admitted.

“Well, if you'd like to rough him up a bit, be my guest. Just don't kill him,” Giles went back into his office.

Buffy threw a punch to the man's gut this time before she had a thought. “Giles! We totally need to call Xander on this.”

Giles glared in displeasure. “Need I remind you-”

“No, you needn't,” Buffy cut him off. “But Xander will want to anyways. You _know_ he's going to be mad if he misses this chance.”

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose. “Very well. Give him a call.”

* * *

By the time Xander and Kendra got there, Willow and Cordelia had both slapped him around a little. Willow because she hadn't gotten any cool powers and Cordelia, just because she was allowed to slap someone. Willow’s hand hurt. Slapping people was not going to be how she contributed to the group in the future, she decided.

Xander stepped in front of the wizard. He got in a ready stance and paused for a few seconds. Then without warning, his left arm snaked out and punched the man hard in the nose. It landed with a satisfying crunch that told him he'd broken it. Xander stepped back and wiped the blood from his hand. Then he pulled out all the money in his wallet, counted that it was over $100 and put it in Ethan's pocket.

“Why the money?” Ethan asked.

“It's been a blessing and a curse.” Xander told him. Then he leaned in close. So close that he had to put a knee on the chair Ethan was sitting on, right between his legs. He whispered, “This is because i'm a teenaged male who's unable to jerk off because of you.”

“Understood” Ethan groaned in pain. Fair was fair after all. He was more worried about what Ripper would think was a fair price for his transgressions.

As Xander stepped away, Cordelia actually apologized to him. Apparently someone had informed her about the assassins. She went on for a while about not realizing the stress he was under and that his voice hurt, which turned very quickly into how much that would affect her. Xander stopped listening pretty fast, but it was nice that she had made the effort.

* * *

Ethan limped onto the bus to LA. A few toes and his left pinky finger. Also, the watcher had taken the money the boy had given him to buy this ticket. Still, Rupert had gone soft. The old Ripper wouldn't have let him off so easy.

* * *

Giles unwrapped the bandage from Xander's right hand and Xander winced. Giles clucked his tongue. “Well, it does seem to be healing well. Though, I've noticed that injuries of all sorts seem to heal exceedingly well on the Hellmouth. I'm not sure why that is.”

“So, I can shoot again?” Xander pleaded. His voice was also mostly healed too. Still scratchy and painful enough that he’d just as soon not speak if he could avoid it, but not so bad that he had to whisper any more.

Giles sighed and gave him a serious look. “I really recommend you wait. There is no need for you to press yourself right now. You were pushing yourself very hard when you were hurt. Your body needs time to recover. Besides, both Slayers report that demonic activity has all but dried up in this town – at least anywhere above the sewers. Kendra and Angel both report that the tunnels under the city hold a large number of demons now. Though Buffy has made the excuse that mucking about in the sewers would blow her cover with her mother.” Giles let out a huff that told what he thought about that line of reasoning. “Anyway, I don't think you are in danger of crippling yourself now as long as you take it easy. But be aware that any practicing will likely delay healing. So, if you practice, your hand will likely hurt for longer.”

Pain was the kind of logic that seemed to get through to Xander. “Maybe I'll wait a bit longer then.”

“Smart boy.”

* * *

On Wednesday, Giles called a Scooby meeting for after school and invited Xander and Kendra, too. Once everyone was seated, Giles announced that he had good news. “I talked with Kendra's Watcher, Mr. Zabuto, back when Kendra first arrived... was it only Thursday night? It's only been a week then. Anyway. As I was saying, I talked to Mr. Zabuto and asked him to look into the Order of Taraka for me to free up our Slayers to fight this Ascension. I talked to him again today and he said that the contract on Robin Hood has been canceled. I must say, I'm ecstatic. This is unprecedented. Kendra, your watcher is very resourceful,” Giles smiled at her.

“Tank you Mister Giles,” Kendra blushed as Xander gave her a pat on the back.

“Remind me to send a big box of Hostess products home with you. Twinkies, Ho-hos, Ding-dongs, Donettes, you name it. I plan on giving that man diabetes as a thank you for getting those people off my back,” Xander started unwrapping his hand.

“What are you doing?” Giles asked.

“I'm going hunting. Hand's good. Now I just need to grab my new bow. It's been drying at the shop. Should be done by now.”

* * *

Xander and Willow walked through the halls together after the meeting. It felt nice to do that again.

“I feel bad about what I did to Angel and Buffy. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it again in a second but I kind of doomed them to a life without nookie,” Xander stated.

“Huh?” Willow cocked her head in confusion.

“Well, you see. Buffy is, by nature, fairly shallow. Not Cordelia level shallow, but certainly playing in the kiddie pool. But, she likes to _think_ that she's not. And there's the problem. Buffy was attracted to him because of his good looks,” Xander said.

Willow tried to interrupt but Xander continued, “...initially. And because he did the mysterious act and disappeared before she could ask him anything. But now that the mystery is gone and he's not so cute, Buffy's not going to be quite so eager to make with the smoochies. But she doesn't want to seem shallow and dump him right away. So now she's stuck. At least for a couple months. Then, when he screws up, she'll be free to blame the breakup on something he did and she's off Scot-free.”

“Gosh, Xander, tell us how you really feel,” Willow said sarcastically. “You're just mad because she's dating a vampire. What is it? The age difference? The vampire part? What?”

Xander shrugged. “I could care less about the age difference. Once you're 250 years old, you're going to be robbing the cradle even if your dates are 90. And in his day and age, 16 was marriageable age and approaching old maid, so I'm okay there too. As for the vampire part, if there was a souled vampiress with the hots for me, I might be tempted too. 

“My problem is two-fold. First is that _I_ would rather be dating Buffy, so he gets automatic negative points there. Second is her actual title, 'Vampire Slayer'. Them hooking up with the other is just asking for trouble. It only goes to prove that they're both worse drama queens than Romeo and Juliet. They picked each other and a relationship that's doomed to fail.”

“Xander they're not-”

“DOOMED.”

“I said-”

“DOOMED. And Angel should know better. He's the older one. He really needs to do the responsible thing and leave her. But now he can't because Buffy would feel guilty,” Xander finished.

“Feel better?” Willow asked.

“A bit,” Xander replied.

“Good. Because I'm about to blackmail you into letting me hunt with you tonight,” She smiled brightly.

* * *

Quentin Travers hung up the phone. Sam Zabuto was a fine watcher, but almost as gullible as Rupert Giles. More so, probably. As Rupert probably wouldn't have believed the council if they'd told him directly that they'd gotten the hit rescinded on that hunter he was so fond of.

But Sam would tell Rupert and Rupert would believe Sam. Quentin smiled. Both should know better. The order of Taraka never canceled a contract. The assassins might fail but they were never called back so long as they lived.

Quentin had a good reason for delivering this misinformation, however. And it wasn't really malicious. But the council had two Slayers for the first time in living memory and both of them were spending their time protecting this boy instead of fighting evil. Plus, Rupert wanted to make the boy a watcher. Quentin sighed. A Slayer needed weapons. Lots of wooden weapons. And the council was happy to buy them from a friend of the Slayer who was in the know. If he was a decent shot with a bow and made a dent on the local demon population, then wonderful. But if he simply went into hiding when an assassin was about, then he was useless to the council. Better to send him out to face the danger head on. If he survived, he'd be that much stronger for it. If not, then he probably wasn't watcher material in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Do not own Hostess, except for one bag of 'donettes' ( _sic_ ) in my cupboard.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Omake:
> 
> "Oh come on, Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate romance, Xander."
> 
> Xander gave her a worried look, "Will. Romeo and Juliet _died_."


	13. Chapter 13 is unlucky

Chapter 13 is very unlucky. (I tried to tell you)

Willow had not been idle while Xander was in hiding. Quite frankly, it wasn't very wise to be working on building herself an automatic crossbow while assassins were looking for anyone matching the description of Robin Hood. But Willow was a genius. And geniuses are not always known for their wisdom. 

Her first prototypes were very lightweight. Just proof of concept ideas. Small electric motors pulling strings back while others loaded bolts into place. She decided on a spring-loaded clip under/through the crossbow with a rotating bolt loading each quarrel in place. The electric drive that cocked the bow was the easiest part. The hard part was finding one strong enough that would only need a reasonably sized battery pack.

She ended up with an unreasonably large battery, held in a backpack and connected to the bow by wires in order to get enough torque to cock the heavy crossbow repeatedly. It wouldn't do for a finished product but it was okay for a prototype.

And that was enough for one night.

On Saturday, Philip/Eyghon attacked and she got to slap the former store owner. That was fun, though her hand hurt afterwards. She had probably hurt herself more than him. But she found out that her plan of Angel taking the demon and fighting him off had worked. Which was awesome. Giles made her an apprentice watcher like Xander. She even got a key to Xander's shop since it wasn't quite Xander's shop, it was really the watchers' shop, even if she still thought of it as Xander's.

Speaking of which, Xander had been downright confusing. First, he punched the guy, then he gave him a wad of money. It was weird.

That afternoon was the first test of the prototype. Right away, she noticed that she hadn't made allowances for either feathers or those razor things that Xander put on the tip of his... Broadheads! That's what their name was.

But a closer look at the crossbow showed it wasn't set up for broadheads anyway. So one problem down. And a quick adjustment to the way the arrows were carried in the magazine (just turning the arrows so the two feathers pointed more vertical and less horizontal) allowed the quarrels to fit and to fall on the bow, ready to be fired as the feathers stopped the rolling arrows in perfect position to be knocked.

She shot off the full 15 round magazine into her target. Then came the third and fourth problems. Even at close range, she was no Green Arrow. She didn't miss the target, but it was nothing like Xander's first grouping. It would probably have been good enough against humans. But against vampires, it just wasn't going to cut it. And the fourth problem was that the electric motors that were driving this thing were quite noisy. The shots were quiet, but reloading was Loud. Actually, as Willow thought about it, it might not be a huge problem since after she shot, they'd probably know where she was anyway. More of an annoyance.

She put the crossbow away to think about the problem(s).

She thought of no solution Sunday except to ask Giles where Ethan had gone and dress up as the Green Arrow. Or probably Huntress. She was from DC too and Willow was pretty sure she knew GA and was good with crossbows. But she wasn't quite that desperate. Yet.

Sometime after midnight, Willow woke with an epiphany. _Holy Water Arrows!_ (batman) She would have until daybreak before she could actually try anything so she sat down at her desk and started sketching ideas. She threw out three of every four ideas as impractical or impossible. She had read some of the Green Arrow comics too, she kind of had to to hang out with Xander and Jesse. But she'd never gotten as into it as them. She'd had major problems with the impossibility of most of GA's trick arrows. The phrase 'suspending disbelief' wasn't in her vocabulary. She still had trouble, now and then, accepting that vampires were real.

So, she was starting from scratch. Or not. She had the internet, didn't she? She did a quick search for Exploding Arrows and Poison Arrows.

Yep, she was starting from scratch – the internet had bupkis that was helpful. Glass right behind the point seemed like the obvious answer. The trick would be to make sure it broke on contact and not on launch. Because accelerating a bolt from a dead stop to 300 feet per second over a distance of 13 inches took a lot of force.

A light tip, with a nob to help break the glass on impact seemed like the best solution.

As daylight filtered into her bedroom, she was out the door and headed downtown. Only to discover that the hardware store didn't open until noon on Sundays. So she walked back home and took a nap. After all, she had been up most of the night.

* * *

That afternoon she walked to the hardware store again. Actually, she had to turn around and take a shower when she caught a whiff of her own B.O. but then she finally walked to the store.

“Are you Sam?” she asked.

“I am,” Sam answered. “What can I do for you?”

“I'm a friend of Xander's. He said you knew about... bitey things.”

Sam smiled and agreed. Thus reassured, Willow went on to explain in detail what she was trying to accomplish and how she was trying to accomplish it. Sam didn't have what she needed and didn't know who might. But he told her that Gary at the sporting goods store down the street would be more likely to know how to get something like that and was also in the know.

So Willow visited Gary and explained again, in detail, what she was trying to do and how she was trying to do it.

Gary shook his head. “I have something that would work. But I won't sell it to you if you're planning on using Holy Water. Even on vampires.”

“Why not?” Willow complained.

“Because, the containers I'm talking about are only as big as the shaft of a crossbow bolt.” pulled out a bolt to show her. It had a wooden shaft and two small, glass containers just behind the tip. “Doesn't leave room for more than a few ounces of liquid. That's not going to do anything except piss them off. So you'll have to think of something else.” Gary raised an eyebrow expectantly. 

Willow thought for a moment. _They obviously had the containers for a reason. What could she use that would only take a few ounces? And why were there two containers? Because something mixed on hitting the vampire... Causing a reaction. Fire. A chemical fire._ “A chemical fire.”

Gary smiled and handed her a bolt. “Very good. Any idea how to make one?”

Willow nodded. “I'll probably use sodium chlorate, sugar, and sulfuric acid.”

“Ooh, fancy. Most folks just go for some petroleum product and an ignition source,” Gary nodded.

“Bah. That's nothing. Maybe thermite and an ignition source. Now _that's_ an arrow,” Willow said.

“Wow, that's... brilliant. A little scary, but brilliant.”

Willow had to go back to the hardware store to order the chemicals she needed. She also ordered a pound each of powdered rust and aluminum to make thermite and some magnesium flakes. The magnesium was the intermediary between the ignition source and the thermite because the ignition point of thermite was so high that you could hold a lighter to a pile of thermite and it would probably never light. But if you held the lighter to piece of magnesium stuck in the thermite, the magnesium would light and that would light the thermite. It was basic science... if you paid attention in class.

* * *

Monday night, she tested her chemical fire arrows – the gentler sodium chlorate, sugar, and sulfuric acid variety. She aimed at the biggest tree in her backyard and fired. It worked. Starting a fire on the side of the trunk. It worked a little too well. She had to grab the hose and spray down the tree when it really did catch on fire. Hopefully her parents wouldn't notice. _Not that it mattered, they'd just call it a cry for attention,_ she sulked. _Which was probably what they'd call the price of the arrows she’d bought._

They were $15 each before tax and the chemicals to fill them. Essentially, every shot cost her $20. She hoped that Buffy had been telling the truth about finding jewelry on some of the bodies and having Giles fence it for her. Otherwise, hunting would be a very expensive hobby. She left half the arrows empty to be filled with the thermite once the components were delivered.

* * *

She did not go hunting Tuesday. There was an assassin after an archer after all and it wouldn't do to have an unfortunate case of mistaken identity. Even if it would save her best friend's life. She briefly wondered if she could get Cordelia or Harmony to wander around town with a bow and quiver until they were killed in place of Xander. But decided that the bribe required would probably be more money than she could get her hands on.

On Wednesday, before she could get the money to bribe Harmony, the news came in that the assassin threat had been taken care of.

She got to speak to Xander again. Not that they hadn't spoke since then but it had been different while the assassins were after him. He was relaxed again. She was her Xander again. He shared secrets with her again. Secrets she used to blackmail him into letting her come hunting that night. She felt a rather feral grin spreading on her face. It was time to show Sunnydale (and Xander) what she was capable of. And if that happened to be more than Kendra was capable of, well then, so be it.

* * *

Xander had initially been reluctant to allow her to come with them but was willing to see a demonstration of her archery first. Willow started with normal bolts first.

Nerves from everyone watching made sure she was less accurate with her first group than she'd wanted. But warm words of encouragement from Giles and Buffy, who both loved her repeating crossbow idea, egged her on. They especially loved that it could fire 15 rounds in 80 seconds. A friendly nod and eyebrow raise from Kendra also said she'd done good. Giles promised to reimburse her for all the materials she'd bought and for the materials to make a new one (not with one of his crossbows this time, thank you) that didn't require a backpack to power it.

“Oh good. That's a relief because these were expensive to buy.” She pulled out one of the fire arrows, as she was calling them, and shot one into the target. Xander got the fire extinguisher and put the resulting fire out.

Giles got very serious. “Willow, what is in those?”

“Well these have sodium chlorate, sugar, and a few drops of sulfuric acid. Those should be good on vampires. But I have some new ones with a small charge of thermite that should work on almost anything.”

“Willow. Those are very dangerous chemicals. Do you-”

“I do!” Willow insisted a little too forcefully. “The quiver I hold them in is made of fire retardant material and is spring loaded to automatically seal when not in use. And I have a sensor which will release the contents of five CO2 cartridges if the temp inside gets too hot. Yes, I realize how dangerous it is. Hunting vampires is a dangerous sport. But I took steps to make it less dangerous.”

“Oh-kay,” Xander jumped in. “And on that note. I'd like to say, 'Welcome to the team'.”

“Really?” Willow had expected more resistance. “That's it?”

Xander shrugged. “You want to help. You found a way to kill vampires reliably without putting yourself in _too_ much danger. You can hunt with me anytime. Also, I want you to come by the shop this weekend and help me make some thermite arrows. Those sound awesome!”

“And as long as you watch were you point those things, because I have no idea how Slayer healing deals with burns and no desire to find out, I'd love to hunt with you,” Buffy declared.

“You are also welcome to hunt wit me,” Kendra nodded.

“Just promise me that you'll hunt with us for a couple weeks before you try going off on your own,” Xander added seriously.

“Oh, I promise,” Willow nodded enthusiastically. _After all, hunting with Xander was the point anyway._

* * *

That night Kendra took them down to the docks where she said most of the demons left above ground hung out. She led them to a vantage point where they could see a good portion of the docks.

“There,” Kendra pointed to where six green demons were unloading very large boxes from a shipping container and reloading them onto a truck. As the hunters watched, a human looking person approached carrying two sixpacks. Sound carried up and the hunters could hear every word.

“Thanks for all your help guys. I've got your last paychecks in the office when you're done. Unless I can get you to reconsider, this is a bonus for all your hard work. You just can't find humans who work as hard as you guys do.”

“Thanks,” one of the demons said as he put down his box and grabbed a beer. “But no. We're leaving. Things are way too hot right now.”

“Damn that Slayer anyway,” the human said.

The demon stopped drinking his beer to answer. “It's not the Slayer. We know how to avoid _her_. There's a new player in town. This new guy doesn't have a pattern and kills everyone. Good demons, bad demons, and vampires of course. Even has the Mayor on the run.”

Everyone stopped to laugh at that.

“Well, can't you get him to kill the Mayor too?” the human asked.

“No one knows who he is. They call him Robin Hood because he kills with arrows. But no one has ever seen him for sure.” The demon paused. “He got Mike and his wife out on a stroll last week.”

“Mike?” the human's voice fell. “Man, that was the nicest demon I ever knew. Nicer than most of the humans I know.”

“Yeah, they left behind a three year old kid. That's where Brad is tonight. Watching her. We'll take her with us so she can grow up safe. Not wondering if some madman is going to shoot her full of arrows just for looking different,” the demon explained.

The human patted him on the back. “I'm sorry man. I wish there was something I could do to help.”

“Hey, you not being prejudiced against demons has been help enough, Harry,” the demon reciprocated the gesture. And watch out for yourself too. We don't know if he's killed any humans but we don't know he hasn't. But he doesn't seem to care about evil or good. Just has a major yen for killing demons. So don't go mentioning being demon-friendly to anyone new.”

The three Scoobies backed away from the scene they had just seen. All of them were a little pale. Xander most of all.

“Where are you going?” Kendra hissed.

“I killed them,” Xander breathed.

“They are demons. You are supposed to kill them.” She started walking to keep up with the others walking away.

“I remember who they're talking about. They weren't doing anything evil. They were even holding hands. And I killed them.”

“Demons are evil,” Kendra insisted.

“Are they?” Xander shot back. “Have you ever talked to one? Angel got his soul back but that didn't necessarily make him good. He chooses to do good.”

Buffy and Willow were silent in their own thoughts.

“Demons are evil,” Kendra insisted, a little weaker this time. ‘My watcher told me so,’ sounded like a weak argument even in her head.

“Well those demons just had a very nice conversation with someone they thought of as human. I'm not sure what your definition of evil is... but that's not mine. I'm going home,” Xander decided.

The three of them walked away but Kendra quickly caught up, deciding not to attack... for now. “I will discuss it with me watcher in the morning,” she stated.

That she wasn't going to go after the (apparently) good demons by herself was enough for now. The Scoobies had plenty to talk about with Giles the next day too. But for now, it was time for bed. Xander put one arm around Kendra and one around Willow. Buffy put her arm around Willow too to bookend the archers with Slayers.

As they were walking through an empty graveyard, Xander felt a tingle like someone was watching him. “Get down!” he yelled. He threw himself behind a nearby mausoleum and pushed/dragged the others with him even as he heard the bullets fly past.

As soon as the bullets stopped, Xander peeked out and located the shooter behind a gravestone. He pulled his head back just in time to get a face full of concrete dust as the silenced rounds impacted the corner of the mausoleum.

“Xander, what are we going to do?” Willow asked.

“Use those fire arrows of yours,” he ordered, unslinging his own bow and starting to fire over the building. Willow quickly followed his example. A headstone might be good cover against bullets but it wasn't adequate against arrows which can be dropped from above. Xander was cursing himself for taking his new bow out without first trying dropping shots with it. He was shooting blind with his new bow since the cast of the reflexed bow was so much greater than his first bow. He had no idea if he was shooting too long or too short. He promised himself that if they got out of this, he'd never take a bow out he wasn't fully trained with again.

Willow was doing even worse than him with her dropping shots landing almost randomly since she had never practiced them at all. Fires were burning all over the gravestone the shooter hid behind. It gave the cemetery an evil feel but also illuminated her while simultaneously killing her night-vision.

Xander finished his first quiver and fired the last arrow by peaking around the mausoleum. Willow's random fires gave an eery light but let him get an idea where his arrows were landing. He didn't see any of his arrow in the grass, so he was probably shooting long. He started shooting left handed with a greater angle over the building while Willow reloaded. Once she was firing again, he knocked another arrow and dashed to the left.

“Xander!” Willow cried and stopped firing.

Xander gritted his teeth. If Willow hadn't said anything, he might have been able to flank the assassin. He knew it was another assassin. _He and Giles and this Zabuto were going to have words about this in the morning. No! Tonight._ But he was now pinned behind a tombstone as well. Still, it felt good to have a straight-up fight were he knew who the bad guy was after the moral ambiguities of the night. Even if he died tonight, he'd go out fighting against something evil.

Willow realized that calling out like that had alerted the shooter and she cursed herself. So she did the one thing she could think of. She shouted, “Hey!” and started firing straight at the... woman? In the light of her fires, it was clear that the shooter was a woman. A red-headed woman at that. After all she'd seen and experienced, she really hoped it wasn't a future version of her come back to kill Xander.

The covering fire allowed Xander to get up and scramble behind a large concrete statue where he could again shoot without being shot at.

Willow ran out of the fire arrows and loaded the thermite arrows instead. A whimper came from where the Slayers were but the fires in the cemetery when she had looked out to shoot had ruined her night vision and she couldn't tell who was whimpering. She peeked out and started shooting into the air. The shooter was no longer looking at the mausoleum and she could watch where her arrows fell and walked her shots to the tombstone and beyond. Her 9th shot elicited a cry of pain.

A few moments later, an unsilenced gunshot reported through the night and everything went quiet.

Xander waited a few moments before peeking out and quickly pulling his head back. The assassin was down and it looked like she had shot herself in the head. He knocked another arrow from his last hip quiver, then sprinted to the assassin. Kicking the handgun and silenced submachinegun away from the body, he turned away from her as soon as she was unarmed and tried not to retch. _No wonder she killed herself,_ he thought. _I'd probably kill myself too if I'd taken thermite in the back._ He made a mental note to never find out what that felt like.

He also decided that he wasn't going to be eating bacon again for a very long time. The smell wafting from her corpse smelled of burnt bacon and scorched cotton. He clothing had been all black anyways, but some of it was now on fire with the thermite in her back still burning. If nothing else, that told him that she really was dead. There was no way she could lie still while her back was on fire like that.

He turned to find Willow coming towards him from the mausoleum. She was crying and her hands were covered in blood. He intercepted her before she could see the body. “You don't want to see that, Will.”

She shook her head. “No!” she cried. “Xander, she's dead!”

* * *

Drusilla smiled. The stars were singing to her tonight. 'The Slayer is dead' they sang. It wasn't what she wanted when she'd sent for the assassins... but it seemed right somehow. He took her Spike, she took his Slayer.

She grinned and sipped from a goblet of blood. She tried to sing with the stars but the tune came out all wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **VOTING IS NOW OVER. Author's Notes left up so next chapters' notes about the results would make sense.** I originally ran a poll on TTH when I first published this story to see who would live and who would die.
> 
>  
> 
> (Original) A/N: I know. Cliffhanger, right? But this is different. I actually do not know who lived and who died. And probably the greatest bonus to this type of writing is instant feedback. So, I want you to email me your vote. (or use a PRIVATE review) You may use the link on my profile page. For two reasons. 1. I'm not looking to pad my reviews. 2. I want this to be a blind vote, so if you must use a review to vote, PLEASE make sure it's PRIVATE. Public votes will not be counted. I will leave the voting open for one week from tonight (midnight CST) so please don't vote after July 10th 2012. Epilogue will be posted soon after that to reveal who lived and the ramifications of that. That will end the first part of this story. Thank you and goodnight. 
> 
> Oh, and if Kendra lives, she will suddenly develop a normal American accent.
> 
> PS. Please tell me which character you want and whether you are voting for them to live or die.


	14. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The actual ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Diana Dormer is the name listed for Faith's Watcher in the Buffy Wiki. I'm bad at coming up with names anyways. The nickname of DD (Pronounced: Double D) is mine but it seemed like something Faith would come up with in reference to the woman's bra size.

Epilogue: **The death of Kendra the Vampire Slayer.**

“Zabuto lied. I'm not sure if it's poetic justice that the assassins got Kendra,” Xander stated with a cold fury.

“Sam Zabuto was many things, but a liar was not one of them. If he gave us that information it was because he believed it. The question is who lied to _him_. Unfortunately, I have a good idea who it might be,” Giles said.

Giles had helped them take Kendra's body back to the scene of the battle. He'd insisted on leaving Willow's crossbow there and picking up all of Xander's arrows. He claimed that it was important for their own survival to give the police an open and shut case. Dealing with the death of a Slayer was part of the responsibilities of being a watcher. Slayers had short life expectancies.

“What exactly is the life expectancy of a Slayer?” Xander asked.

Giles winced. This was hardly the time or the place. They had avoided this conversation last time because Buffy's death had been prophesied – also because it hadn’t stuck. “The gaps in the watcher chronicles tend to be for no more than thee months. Sometimes days. If they have a watcher but no prior training... a year or less, which Buffy has more-or-less exceeded. Those with martial arts experience or those raised by the council like Kendra... eighteen months.”

Xander looked away. Buffy had already beaten the odds. “That's not good enough Giles.”

The watcher sighed, “I agree. But what do you expect me to do about it?”

“Giles is right, Xan,” Buffy agreed. “You guys have helped me a lot. And I'm still here because I had friends who cared for me. And I like to think we could have helped Kendra if she hadn't... But she's gone and a new Slayer's been called and we'll help her when she comes to the Hellmouth.”

Xander was quiet for a minute. Then a feral grin spread across his face. “Why should we?”

“Xander!” Buffy and Willow exclaimed. 

“Why should we wait for her to come to us?” Xander explained. “Giles, how does the council find the new Slayers?”

“Well, there's a spell-”

“And do you know the spell?”

“Yes, but-”

“Good. Get it ready for tomorrow morning,” Xander cut him off again.

Giles shook his head. “Xander. You can't simply go get the new Slayer. The council-”

“I'm done with the council. I'm not in this for them. I'm in it for Buffy and now for the new Slayer,” Xander declared.

“You're not actually taking the council's side here, are you Giles?” Buffy asked. “I mean, they got Kendra killed and almost got the rest of us killed too.” She crossed her bloodstained arms in front of her bloodsoaked shirt.

Willow had been feeling enormous guilt for wishing the now deceased Slayer ill before she died. But the idea of rescuing a new Slayer from the council's clutches perked her up considerably. Hopefully this new Slayer wouldn't be interested in Xander. “Yeah!” she managed.

“Please let me finish. The council is very powerful, politically. They could make things very difficult for you if you cross them,” Giles warned. But three glares told him that the children would not be dissuaded. He sighed in resignation. “Very well then. I'll need some materials from the magic shop. We can do the spell after school tomorrow.”

“Today,” Buffy corrected. “It's after midnight.”

* * *

Giles had done the spell and Miss Calendar had found a way to transfer it to a map of the greater Boston area. All five of them had flown into Logan airport and rented a van to take them south, to the city of Quincy. 

“So, what's her name?” Buffy asked.

“We don't know yet,” Giles answered from the driver's seat.

“Why not? My first watcher knew my name. It was a little creepy at first, but it helped convince me that the freaky stuff he told me might be true,” Buffy reasoned.

“Actually,” Willow piped up. “I ran the address we got while we were waiting for the plane. There were two names listed for the address; a C. Lehane and an F. Lehane. I ran the names against the local school records and there was a Cory, a Fred, and a Faith Lehane of the right age group at different schools in the area. So, assuming that Cory and Fred are male, we can guess that her name is Faith Lehane.”

“Thanks Will,” Buffy patted the computer geek on the back. “But next time, just tell us her name is Faith.”

* * *

“Diana. Good to see you again,” Giles shook the hand of the matronly looking woman.

“Rupert. What are you doing here?” The woman identified as Diana asked. Her eyes flashed to Buffy quickly then to Faith then back to Giles.

Giles made a tisking sound and ignored the question. “Good evening, Faith. My name is Rupert Giles, though the children in my group usually refer to me simply as Giles.” He offered his hand.

Faith took it warily. “If you know her, are you going to try and tell me that vampires are real too?”

Giles smiled. “Indeed not. I find it's much easier to simply show you. Also, I'm not sure how much Ms. Dormer was able to tell you about Slayers-”

“One girl in all the world?” Faith interrupted.

“Yes, except that right now there are two. I'd like you to meet Buffy Summers, your fellow Slayer,” he introduced Buffy then stepped aside to let them talk while he explained things to Diana.

“What do you think you are doing? She is _My_ Slayer,” she hissed.

“I think you'll find that she has a mind of her own,” he calmly opined. “And after what Travers pulled with Kendra... Well we couldn't in good conscience allow the council to ruin another life. We're here to give her a better option. To live a full life with friends while Slaying. Being a person instead of a tool.”

“Kendra died while she was with your group. And you can't just steal another watcher's Slayer,” Diana spat.

“Kendra died because Quentin Travers lied to her watcher about the dangers we were facing and the children went out ill prepared. And we aren't stealing anything. It will be Faith's choice whether she wishes to associate with us or you. Possibly both. We are trying to work for the greater good. Something that the leaders of the council seem to have forgotten about. If they pull their collective heads from their arses, then perhaps we can reach an understanding again. Until then, please be so kind as to tender my resignation.” Giles nodded and then walked back towards the kids. “How are things over here?”

Faith scowled. “Is what you said over there true? About the other Slayer dying because of that Travers guy?”

Giles sighed. He'd known she would hear but it was unfortunate that she'd had to. “Unfortunately, yes. I'm afraid that the leadership of the council has become complacent and forgotten that Slayers are people as well as a champion for good. What we offer is simply that you will not be alone. If you chose to come with us, you will have friends who will always be by your side and we will never treat you as a just a weapon,” he promised.

“Well, not _always_ by her side, Giles. A Slayer needs to Slay alone sometimes,” Buffy put in. “But you'll always have backup when you want it.”

“And donuts!” Xander grabbed another pastry from the box they'd brought. “Donuts are a very important part of Slaying.”

Giles shook his head. “Xander might not look it from the way he's dressed, or acts, or the way he's stuffing his face with the donuts intended for _Faith_ right now.” Xander had the decency to look a little abashed at that which made Faith laugh before Giles continued, “But he's a very competent demon hunter in his own right.” Giles concluded with a compliment.

“Man, you guys are a hoot. Way less stuffy than Double D over there,” Faith stated. “So you guys’ll stay here with me and help me hunt?”

Giles cringed a little at that. “Unfortunately, we can't stay. There is a Hellmouth in California that can't remain unguarded for very long. We'd be happy to back you up for a few nights though while you learn the ropes here before we go back. But we do have to go back. We had hoped that you would return to California with us.”

Faith's face went from up to down and back up again with those words. “Really?”

“Of course. It's the whole reason we came,” Buffy insisted.

“You can't do this,” Diana insisted. “You can't steal her from me.”

“Nobody is stealing anybody,” Jenny put in. “You're free to travel where you want to. Just like Faith. Unlike Faith, you're not welcome in our van.”

“Or to our snacks,” Xander added.

“Bad watcher. No donuts,” Buffy wagged a finger.

Xander, Willow, Faith and Jenny all burst out laughing at that. Leaving the British watchers wondering.

* * *

“Man, Giles. That Taquitos guy was tough,” Buffy said. (“Kakistos,” whispered Willow) “Whatever. Arrows bounced off this guy whenever he didn't catch them outright. I'm still not sure how he did that with only three fingers.”

“Anyway,” Faith cut in. “I yelled to Xan to switch, so they took the minions and B and I took the big guy. I got a stake in, but his skin was super tough and it didn't go far enough to dust him. But then Red pulls a fast one and shoots him while he's monologging. He probably didn't think an arrow in the side would be a big deal. Except that it's that wicked thermite shit she likes. Boy goes up in smoke and the minions are finished a minute later.”

“I do wish someone other than Buffy had taught you how to give a proper patrol report,” Giles looked up at Diana Dormer and allowed himself an inward smile at the fact that she was completely flabbergasted. Much as he had been on receiving Buffy's first report.

* * *

It was two weeks after the cross-country road trip that brought Faith and the rest of the Scooby Council to Sunnydale that they received the Watcher's Council counter attack. First, Child Protective Services took Faith away claiming she was a runaway. Giles calmed her, kept her from doing anything rash, and told her to be good until he could get her out. But the same day, before he could accomplish anything for her, Immigration and Naturalization Services came to deport him.

“Don't worry Giles. The council doesn't know who it's messing with,” Xander assured him.

“Control yourself,” Giles warned him. He was more afraid that Xander would go too far and get himself in serious trouble than he was about being deported.

Xander just gave him a wicked smile and looked at Willow who looked almost happy. “We didn't think they'd take Faith. But we already have plans on how to deal with this.”

“Oh dear.”

* * *

“Sunnydale library,” Buffy answered brightly. “Right away, sir. May I ask who's calling? Xander, there's a Quentin Travers on the phone for you.”

“Quentin, you took long enough. I have to say, I'm disappointed in the speed of the watcher communications network. Do you guys use carrier pigeons or something? Because I was expecting your call days ago,” Xander quipped as he took the phone.

“Now you listen here. We are the Watchers Council. We have protected the world from the forces of darkness for a thousand years. You do not have the authority to seize our assets like this,” Quentin barely controlled his anger.

“I don't know what you're talking about. Though now that you mention it, _you_ don't have the authority to kidnap our friends,” Xander shot back. “You know that old question, 'who will watch the watchers'? Well it's us. And you are going to return our friends to us, _Now_. The penalty for refusal is 50,000 dollars, US, per person, per day, starting with the day they were taken. And you better get them back fast because your cash reserves won't last much longer. And then we start selling properties.”

“You can't.”

“Can. And will. You'd be surprised what you can do with computers nowadays. I think the first property I sell will be this place near the French Riviera. That should cover any fees for a couple weeks.” Xander smiled into the phone. “We'll need to sell fast though. Probably won't get a great price.”

“You're a monster,” Travers spat.

“Coming from someone who threw me to the wolves and then kidnapped my friends, that means nothing to me,” Xander replied lightly. 

“There's nothing we can do. We don't have that much influence. We need money for bribes,” Quentin tried several excuses at once to see if anything bought him some leeway. 

“Sell your house,” Xander said coldly. “You had enough money or influence to get them out. Either you have enough to get them back or the watchers council will cease to be. And then we'll go get our friends anyway. So it's your choice, Quentin. Don’t make me come over there.” With that final warning, Xander hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and Recommendations are what keep me going. Please donate a click, there's no cost to you.


	15. Alternate Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Ending. (Did not happen - will not be part of any possible sequel)
> 
> Enough people voted for Buffy to die that I decided to write this also.
> 
> Epilogue of Buffy's Death. (Omake)

It felt like he was picking up pieces of his life rather than arrows. It was amazing how much he had been off in his shooting. Most of his arrows had landed 50 yards or more beyond where the assassin had been. He was still missing a few – lost to the trees, no doubt.

Buffy was dead. Nothing felt real.

Giles had cried when Kendra had carried Buffy's body to Giles' apartment. Xander hadn't thought he'd ever see the man cry. But the watcher had stopped crying when Xander had showed him the ring. He'd just gone... cold – there was no other way to describe it. Then he'd left. Barely more than a thank you for letting him know. No help in figuring out what to tell the police. No help in figuring out what to tell Buffy's mother.

Joyce. Xander's gag reflex forced him to swallow bile. They had no idea how to tell her. After talking about it, Xander and Kendra decided to take Buffy's body back to the cemetery and leave it where she had died behind the mausoleum. They wiped off Willow's crossbow and gave it to Buffy. Kendra volunteered to put the backpack on her corpse. 

Then they left it in the hands of the Sunnydale police to inform Joyce. It was cowardly, perhaps. But they were just kids. They weren't supposed to deal with stuff like this.

Speaking of which, Willow was not dealing well. She hadn't stopped crying since Buffy died and it was morning already. Xander and Kendra helped her home. Kendra helped her clean off the blood in the shower then Xander took his turn when they were done. Xander knew that something like Willow and Kendra showering together was supposed to be sexy, but he felt nothing.

Kendra wore some of Willow's clothes and Xander put on one of the spare sets he kept at her house. Then the three of them laid down on Willow's bed with Willow in the middle. There was nothing sexual about the three of them sleeping together. This was purely comfort.

They slept like that until after one in the afternoon when there was a knock on the door. Xander answered. There were two cops waiting there.

“We're looking for Willow Rosenberg,” one said.

“Wait here,” Xander closed the door on them.

One of them stopped the door. “Are you Alexander Harris? Can we come in?”

Xander considered saying 'no' but that would just be suspicious. He stood aside but didn't invite them in. “I'm Xander.”

“This is officer Jones. I'm detective Smith.”

“Wait here. I'll go get Willow.”

He returned with Willow and Kendra. 

“Who's she?” Smith asked.

“Kendra. She's another friend of Buffy's,” Xander answered.

“So you guys already know?” Jones clarified.

Xander nodded. “Giles told us last night. It's why we didn't go to school today.”

“That would be Rupert Giles, the librarian at Sunnydale High School?” Smith wondered, pulling out a pad of paper. “What time was this?”

“Pretty late.” Xander looked at the girls. Willow was a blank. “One or two in the morning?”

Kendra shook her head. “No it was earlier than that. Midnight at the latest. Two was when we went to bed.”

“Oh yeah,” Xander bowed his head. Then he looked up at the cops, “Why did you ask about Giles?”

The cops looked at each other then Smith nodded. Jones spoke up. “He's left the country. Already arrived in England, apparently. He's not a suspect, exactly, but taking off so soon after the death of a student is a little suspicious.”

“Have you told Mrs. Summers yet?” Willow's voice was hollow.

“Yes.”

“We should go and offer our condolences. She doesn't have anyone else, Xander” Willow said to the floor. She couldn’t look at him or anyone else; doing so would make her burst into tears again.

“Well, thank you for your time. And sorry for your loss,” Smith ushered his partner out the door. The kids were clearly in shock. No question of them being suspects.

* * *

The funeral was a very subdued affair. Of all the Sunnydale students, only Cordelia showed up. Willow had helped Joyce pick out a headstone. Something to do seemed to give life to both of the empty women.

{Buffy Summers}  
{Daughter}  
{Friend}  
{Hero}

Sam Zabuto also came. Xander didn't know who he was until Kendra introduced him after the service. “I'm very sorry to have had a part in your friend's death. If I had known what the council was doing... I was very gullible,” he said as he offered his hand.

Xander just looked at the hand then looked up. “The council? What do they have to do with this?”

“Why, they are the ones that told me they had gotten the hit rescinded. Didn't Mr. Giles tell you before he left? I assumed he had told you after what he did.”

Xander grabbed the still offered hand but just held it instead of shaking. “What did he do?”

Sam stared into his eyes. “He killed them. Half of the central office. Seventeen people. There are still many watchers throughout the world, but he killed most of the administrative staff and hospitalized a couple more.”

Xander let the man's hand go as he felt the anger leave him. He had been so mad at Giles for abandoning them. But he hadn't abandoned them. He had avenged Buffy. He deeply hoped that Buffy could rest in peace now.

Sam pressed a card into his hand. “I have taken care of the Mayor's plans for Ascension,” he opened his jacket to reveal a silenced pistol. “But if you ever have any other issues that require a Slayer's help, please don't hesitate to call. I understand that Rupert was training you to be a watcher and I'm sure that the actions of the late Quentin Travers have poisoned you against us. But I want to assure you that we are not all like that. We simply try to do our best to hold back the darkness.”

* * *

Hunting after Buffy's death was almost too easy. He put up a tree stand in a tree overlooking the mausoleum where Buffy died. It drew vampires in like magic and they still never looked up.. If there were a lot in a group, Xander would just dust them. If there were only a few, he would get them with a headshot and then cover Willow while she robbed them. So they were making very good money.

He also tracked down and called Giles. 

“Xander. You shouldn't have called me here,” Giles insisted.

“Sam Zabuto let slip what you did,” Xander replied. “I was angry at you for abandoning us until then.”

“I'm sorry, Xander. I acted very rashly, I'm afraid. I'm not sure if what I did was for the greater good or not. I told myself that the administration of the council was clearly corrupt and needed to be cleaned out... but now, I'm not so sure if that wasn't just rationalization for revenge.” Giles sighed. “How- how is everybody else?”

“Willow's recovering. She was in shock for a couple days there. Joyce packed up and left a few days ago. I didn't expect her to stay and it's good that she's getting off the Hellmouth. Kendra went back with Zabuto after he took care of the Mayor for us. He called to let me know she's taken up archery too. Angel left for LA. Miss Calendar misses you but she headed for LA too. Said there were too many sad memories here now,” Xander summarized. 

“And you?”

“I'm hunting with Willow. It's been a couple weeks and I think we've really made a dent in the vampire population. Numbers are way down anyway. Before he left, Angel helped us make contact with some human-friendly demons.”

“That- That's good,” Giles smiled. At least it sounded like they still had allies. Even if they weren't human.

“Yeah, I sleep better at night knowing that the demons I kill now aren't nice people just trying to get by. And with all the vampires we've been killing, the money we have coming in has been enough to bankroll a lab for Willow to do R&D stuff. I'm pretty sure she'll have a breakthrough in something eventually.”

“I'm glad that things are going well. Now, I'm afraid I have to go,” Giles said.

“Yeah. I'll talk to you later,” Xander promised.

Giles hung up and sighed. He hoped that what he'd done had worked. When Xander had brought him Buffy's body, the boy hadn't been sad. He had been furious. It hadn't taken Giles long to realize what had happened. That Zabuto had gone to the council and the council had lied to the watcher. Giles knew that it wouldn't take Xander terribly long to figure out what happened either and he feared what would happen if Xander's skill and fury landed on the Watcher's Council as a whole. So he had struck instead. A surgical strike that would only take those who viewed the Slayer as a tool.

If all went as planned, the humanist faction would gain control of the council, Xander would never have innocent blood on his hands, and Giles would rot in jail in the boy's place. Because there was only one place that Xander's anger was going to lead him and it was exactly where Giles found himself now... being led back to his cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, Reviews and Recommendations are presents that you give writers for taking the time to write and post the stories you enjoy.


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